United States v. Adan Mendoza-Larios

BENTON, Circuit Judge.

Police seized eight kilograms of cocaine from the car that Joaquin Naranjo-Gutier-rez was driving and Adan Mendoza-Larios was riding in. The cocaine was hidden in a compartment welded within the airbag space under the passenger-side dash. Mendoza and Naranjo were convicted by a jury of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and conspiracy to distribute it. Both attack the sufficiency of the evidence. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, this court reverses.

“A conviction will be reversed on insufficiency grounds only if, after viewing the evidence in the…