9th Circuit Vacates Smuggling Conviction For Lack Of Reliability Ruling On Expert

Mealey's (August 20, 2020, 10:12 AM EDT) -- PHOENIX — A truck driver was convicted of smuggling marijuana into the United States in a load of peppers after a drug agent told the jury that the chances of the driver being kidnapped by Mexican drug cartel members and then forced to drive the drugs across the border as he claimed were "almost nil," but a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Aug. 19 that the trial court failed to determine whether the agent's expert testimony was reliable (United States v. Enrique Valencia-Lopez, No. 18-10482, 9th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 26309)....