United States v. Leopoldo Avila Gonzalez

Border officials at Calexico, California, discovered substantial amounts of marijuana and heroin secreted in an automobile driven by Avila-Gonzalez, the appellant. A jury found him guilty on two counts of violating 21 U.S.C. § 174 and two counts of violating 21 U.S.C. § 176a. He received four concurrent five-year sentences. We affirm the conviction.

Appellant testified that he had borrowed the car from a friend and that he had no knowledge of the contraband until the border officials discovered it. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction. Numerous decisions in…