United States v. Pena-Renovato

STEWART, Circuit Judge:

A federal grand jury indicted Jaime Pena-Renovato (“Pena”) on July 2, 1997. In relevant part, the indictment charged Pena with being found in the United States on or about June 16, 1997 after “having previously been arrested and deported from the United States on or about May 15,1997,” in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326.

During Pena’s bench trial, the Government introduced evidence that on May 15, 1997, an immigration judge ordered that Pena be removed from the United States to Mexico. Importantly, the order is captioned “IN REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS” and does not mention…