United States v. Duenas
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
691 F.3d 1070 (2012)
- Written by Sara Rhee, JD
Facts
On April 19, 2007, Guam police officers executed a search warrant at the home of Ray Duenas and Lou Duenas (defendants) and seized narcotics, guns, and drug ledgers. The defendants were arrested and taken to the precinct. Officer Frankie Smith obtained a waiver of Ray’s Miranda rights and obtained a statement from Ray admitting that he sold methamphetamine in exchange for stolen items. Ray was charged with conspiracy to distribute over 50 grams of methamphetamine. Ray later moved to suppress his statement on grounds that his statement was involuntary and obtained in violation of Miranda. At the suppression hearing, Officer Smith testified about Ray’s statement. The district court denied Ray’s motion. Officer Smith was subsequently killed in an accident. The district court deemed him unavailable at trial and admitted his suppression hearing testimony. The jury convicted Ray and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. Ray appealed, arguing that Officer Smith’s suppression hearing testimony should not have been admitted.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Wardlaw, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 787,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.