Court Opinion

ID: 9470737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:14:51.196888+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:05.222630
License: Public Domain

HUG, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I fully concur in Judge Canby’s opinion, and I write separately to add an additional clarifying thought concerning Benson’s appeal of his aiding and abetting conviction.
The issue is brought more clearly in focus to me if we assume, hypothetically, that Benson’s trial was severed from that of Garcia-Nunez, and that Benson was being tried on the same charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the transportation of *563an illegal alien. The theory advanced by the prosecution on the aiding and abetting charge was that Benson was guilty of the substantive crime of transporting an illegal alien because he was vicariously liable for the substantive crime committed by his co-conspirator, Garcia-Nunez, in furtherance of the conspiracy, under Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946).
If the prosecution sought to introduce the evidence held to have been obtained in violation of Benson’s constitutional rights solely to convict Benson on either charge, it is obvious that it would be disallowed. No different conclusion should result merely because Garcia-Nunez was joined as a defendant in this trial and the evidence was admissible against him.