United States v. Ubaldo

Defendant appealed his conviction for illegally importing weapons into the United States. The Ninth Circuit held that the presumption against extraterritoriality has been rebutted by the provisions within the weapons importation statute and the legislative history accompanying the statute; the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction; the motion to suppress was properly denied; in regard to the motion to dismiss the indictment, the district court did not clearly err in finding that defendant failed to establish bad faith; the district court acted within its discretion when it elected to issue a curative instruction rather than granting a mistrial for the purported violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16; the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence regarding defendant's previous smuggling conduct, and any error in admitting the evidence was harmless; the district court adequately instructed the jury regarding the elements of causing the importation of weapons into the United States; and there was no merit to the contention that the district court's willfulness instruction was incomplete or potentially allowed the jury to convict defendants for merely facilitating or brokering deals. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Ubaldo" on Justia Law