United States v. Maldonado-Rivera

SELYA, Senior Circuit Judge.

Defendant-appellant Christian Maldonado-Rivera appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial in this criminal case. Concluding, as we do, that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion, we affirm the judgment below.

I. BACKGROUND

This case had its genesis in a surveillance of suspected drug-trafficking activity at the Los Laureles housing project in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The facts are uncomplicated.

On July 14, 2004, Nancy Méndez Acevedo (Méndez), a police officer with twelve years of seniority on the force, was assigned to surveil…