United States v. Lebron-Cepeda

At the conclusion of a twelve-day trial, a jury convicted defendants-appellants JosÉ RamÓn Caraballo-Gonzalez and Victor LebrÓn-Cepeda of committing and aiding and abetting each other and others in the commission of a carjacking resulting in a death, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 2119(3) and 2, and of using and carrying, and aiding and abetting each other and others in the use and carriage of, a firearm during and in relation to the carjacking, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1)(3) and 2. The district court subsequently sentenced each defendant to life imprisonment for his carjacking conviction and to a statutorily mandated five-year consecutive term of imprisonment for his firearm conviction. Defendants appeal these judgments on a number of grounds. We affirm. I. Background We start with an account of the facts of the crimes as the jury could have found them, e.g., United States v. Diaz, 285 F.3d 92, 94 (1st Cir. 2002), but defer providing certain additional information until we discuss the issues to which the information is relevant.