United States v. Vega-Figueroa
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
234 F.3d 744 (2000)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Jose Vega-Figueroa (defendant) was charged with conducting an ongoing drug enterprise. At trial, the prosecution called Aleida Gotay Saez, who played a large role in a competing drug enterprise in the area. Saez had attended a meeting at which Vega-Figueroa discussed the merger of their enterprises. Saez testified that she witnessed the murder of her sister, who also was part of the competing drug enterprise. Saez testified that her sister was killed by Vega-Figueroa’s organization because her enterprise sold more drugs than Vega-Figueroa’s enterprise. Saez was subject to extensive cross-examination at trial. Vega-Figueroa was convicted, and he appealed, arguing that Saez’s testimony was improper lay testimony.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Bownes, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 899,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 47,000 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.

