In U.S. v. Perez, No. 05-12404 (March 21, 2006), the Court affirmed the defendant's convictions, following a bench trial, on multiple counts of bringing aliens to the United States. Briefly, Mr. Perez and his co-defendant, Mr. Valdez, came across a disabled boat at sea that contained a captain and six passengers. Perez and Valdez asked what the people were doing, and the captain said they had been fishing. Perez and Valdez asked for identification and most of the passengers showed them Florida driver's licenses. Perez and Valdez then offered to take the people ashore, a trip that lasted just two hours. As Perez and Valdez docked the boat at Matheson Hammock Marina at 1 a.m. a police officer who had been watching them approached the men after the boat was on a trailer and asked for identification. The officer asked what they had been doing and if they were alright. Valdez informed the officer that the truck and boat were his and showed the truck's registration to the officer. Perez and the officer boarded the boat to find the boat registration and the officer found six Cuban nationals on board. Following a bench trial, Valdez was acquitted on all counts, Perez was acquitted on a conspiracy count but convicted on the six substantive alien smuggling counts.
In affirming the convictions, the Court first rejected a claim that the Police had violated the Fourth Amendment during the questioning and search. The Court reasoned that the encounter was purely consensual and thus held that there was no Fourth Amendment violation. The Court next rejected a claim that the district court had improperly considered Perez' prior alien smuggling conviction. The Court held that despite Perez' stipulation as to intent, the 404(b) evidence was admissible to show knowledge and intent. Finally, the Court affirmed the sufficiency of the convictions holding that the circumstantial facts of the case coupled with Perez' previous alien smuggling conviction were sufficient to demonstrate that Perez "conducted himself 'knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has not received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States.'"
