Court Opinion

ID: 9499125
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:38:29.023403+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:17.995222
License: Public Domain

RYMER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and in the judgment:
I concur in Parts I, II, and III.C, and in the judgment on Parts III.A and B. I part company with respect to the need to “clarify” what instructions should be given in “found in” cases for, as the district court correctly held, there was no evidence to support an instruction that Salazar-Gonzalez was not knowingly and voluntarily found in the United States. He was found with eleven others, who also had no permission to be here, hiding in a bush 100 yards away from the border having climbed a fence that ranged from four to eleven feet at its lowest point, and offered no evidence that he didn’t know he was in this country.1 A district court “determination that a factual foundation does not exist to support a jury instruction proposed by the defense” is reviewed under the deferential abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Castellanos-Garda, 270 F.3d 773, 775 (9th Cir.2001). The court acted well within its discretion in ruling that “[t]here was no evidence whatsoever that would bring that [Salazar-Gonzalez’s proposed instruction] into play.” This is the beginning and end of it. The district court had no obligation to give Salazar-Gonzalez’s proposed instruction, and committed no error in not doing so. As there is nothing to correct, there is nothing to “clarify.” We should simply affirm.

. In these circumstances, there was no basis upon which a reasonable jury could find that Salazar-Gonzalez did not enter the United States knowingly and voluntarily. See United States v. Rivera-Sillas, 417 F.3d 1014, 1021 (9th Cir.2005) (as amended) (observing that there are multiple possibilities of unknowing and/or involuntary entry, but "because involuntary presence is the rare exception and not the rule, we allow an inference of voluntariness where the defendant has raised no evidence to the contrary”); United States v. Quintana-Torres, 235 F.3d 1197, 1200 (9th Cir.2000) (stating that absent proof otherwise, a juror may infer the defendant intended to be in the United States if the defendant is found within this country); cf. United States v. Castellanos-Garcia, 270 F.3d 773, 775-77 (9th Cir.2001) (holding that the government need not prove lack of official restraint in prosecuting a § 1326 offense unless the defendant comes forward with evidence that he was not free from official restraint during the border crossing).-