Court Opinion

ID: 9930520
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-07 01:00:40.472139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:19:15.557632
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-40317         Document: 00517057787             Page: 1      Date Filed: 02/06/2024

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________                    United States Court of Appeals
                                                                               Fifth Circuit

                                       No. 23-40317                          FILED
                                     Summary Calendar                 February 6, 2024
                                     ____________                       Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                             Clerk
   United States of America,

                                                                       Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Selvin Calix-Castillo,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Southern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 5:22-CR-1580-1
                      ______________________________

   Before Jolly, Engelhardt, and Douglas, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Selvin Calix-Castillo appeals his convictions for transporting and
   attempting to transport an illegal alien within the United States for financial
   gain and conspiracy to transport an illegal alien within the United States.
   Calix-Castillo contends that the district court erred by admitting at trial
   incriminating portions of jailhouse phone calls between him and his mother

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-40317      Document: 00517057787          Page: 2   Date Filed: 02/06/2024

                                    No. 23-40317

   without permitting the defense to introduce the entirety of the phone call
   audio under Federal Rule of Evidence 106. The district court concluded that
   the unadmitted portions of the phone call audio were irrelevant and
   inadmissible because they consisted only of Calix-Castillo’s own self-serving
   denials of wrongdoing.
          We review the district court’s evidentiary ruling for abuse of
   discretion, subject to harmless error. United States v. Brooks, 681 F.3d 678,
   709 (5th Cir. 2012). “A nonconstitutional trial error is harmless unless it had
   substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s
   verdict.” United States v. El-Mezain, 664 F.3d 467, 526 (5th Cir. 2011), as
   revised (Dec. 27, 2011) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
          As the Government correctly argues, even if we were to conclude that
   the district court’s evidentiary ruling was an abuse of discretion, the error
   was harmless in light of the ample evidence of guilt, most of which Calix-
   Castillo admitted in his testimony. Although he endeavored to provide an
   innocent explanation for his actions, the jury found his testimony to that end
   uncredible. See United States v. Valas, 822 F.3d 228, 238 (5th Cir. 2016).
   Hearing Calix-Castillo’s simple denials of guilt to his own mother would not
   have caused the jury to reassess the evidence, such that the district court’s
   evidentiary ruling had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in
   determining the jury’s verdict. See El-Mezain, 664 F.3d at 526. Accordingly,
   the judgment is AFFIRMED.

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