United States v. Jorge Negrete-Gonzales, United States of America v. Rogelio Mendoza-Barajas

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

The two defendants here may or may not have conspired to sell cocaine, but a trial rife with error denied them their fundamental right to make the government prove its case. The district court arbitrarily struck the testimony of the key defense witness, permitted the government’s ill-advised inquiry into the defendants’ post-arrest silence, and misinstructed the jury. We reverse and remand for a new trial, with the expectation that these errors will be corrected.

I

The two defendants, Rogelio Mendoza-Barajas (Mendoza) and Jorge Negrete-Gon-zalez (Negrete), were…