United States v. Emilano Gomez-Gallardo

NELSON, Circuit Judge:

OVERVIEW

Defendant/appellant Emilano Gomez-Gallardo (Gallardo) was indicted and convicted for conspiracy with Jose Delacruz-Gutierrez (Gutierrez) to distribute cocaine. Gallardo appeals three alleged errors in his jury trial. He argues that Gutierrez was called as a witness in order to introduce otherwise inadmissible evidence, that the government introduced evidence of Gutierrez’s guilty plea for illegitimate and highly prejudicial purposes and that the government elicited prejudicial and irrelevant evidence of Gallardo’s drug use. We reverse the conviction and remand…