United States v. Mejia
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
545 F.3d 179 (2008)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Ledwin Castro and David Vasquez (defendants) were indicted for various crimes relating to alleged criminal activity of the MS-13 gang, including racketeering involving murder. At trial, the prosecution (plaintiff) called police officer Hector Alicea as an expert witness. Alicea testified about MS-13’s history, structure, and activities in New York. Alicea testified that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had seized 15 to 25 guns from MS-13 members, that MS-13 members had been arrested for dealing drugs, and that MS-13 members had committed at least 18 murders. In forming his testimony, Alicea relied on a combination of custodial interrogations of MS-13 members, statements made by police officers, recorded telephone conversations, and personal research. Alicea was unable to specify which parts of his testimony were based on custodial interrogations and which were based on other sources. The defendants were convicted, and they appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hall, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 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.