Opinion
No. 16-50294
03-06-2018
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RAMON URBINA, Defendant-Appellant.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
D.C. No. 3:16-cr-00375-LAB MEMORANDUM Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Larry Alan Burns, District Judge, Presiding Submitted February 15, 2018 Pasadena, California Before: MCKEOWN and WARDLAW, Circuit Judges, and DONATO, District Judge.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
The Honorable James Donato, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, sitting by designation. --------
Ramon Urbina appeals his jury conviction for importation of methamphetamine on the ground that the district court improperly admitted evidence of three text messages found on his phone over his relevance objection. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and affirm.
While the relevance of the three text messages was debatable, we find no abuse of discretion by the district court. United States v. Rendon-Duarte, 490 F.3d 1142, 1145 (9th Cir. 2007). The district court undertook a considered balancing of the probative value of the proffered evidence against its potential for unfair prejudice to the defendant. Even if the district court's determinations were in error, such error was harmless. The jury was presented with overwhelming evidence of Urbina's guilt, including the approximately fifteen pounds of methamphetamine that was found in the car he drove into the United States from Mexico at the time of his arrest. Consequently, the alleged error did not materially affect the verdict. United States v. Mitchell, 376 F. App'x. 749, 750 (9th Cir. 2010).
AFFIRMED.