United States v. Hernandez-Hernandez

GORSUCH, Circuit Judge.

At a bar in Palomas, Mexico, Alfredo Hernandez-Hernandez, a Mexican citizen twice deported from the United States, consumed a sufficient amount of alcohol and marijuana to blackout. The next thing he knew, Mr. Hernandez was in the United States without any recollection how he got there and, in short order, arrested for illegally reentering the country. Today, we are asked to decide whether the district court’s decision to exclude from trial evidence of Mr. Hernandez’s intoxication and resulting amnesia violated his constitutional right to present a defense. We hold that…