No. 22-1654

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

MIGUEL SANTANA-AVILÉS,

Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Aida M. Delgado-Colón, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Kayatta, Selya, and Rikelman, Circuit Judges.

Richard B. Klibaner and Klibaner & Sabino on brief for appellant. W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney, Mariana E. Bauzá- Almonte, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Appellate Division, and Gregory B. Conner, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for appellee.

October 22, 2024 SELYA, Circuit Judge. In this appeal, defendant-appellant Miguel Santana-Avilés seeks to set aside his conviction and sentence for assault of a correctional officer. See 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1), (b). That conviction, he insists, is fatally flawed because it resulted from erroneous evidentiary rulings. Concluding, as we do, that the appellant's reach exceeds his grasp, we affirm his conviction and sentence.

I

We briefly rehearse the relevant facts and travel of the case. "Because these appeals do not present challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence but, rather, deal with other claims of error, we rehearse 'the facts in a balanced manner in which we objectively view the evidence of record.'" United States v. Rodriguez, 115 F.4th 24, 33 (1st Cir. 2024) (quoting United States v. Amador-Huggins, 799 F.3d 124, 127 (1st Cir. 2015)).

A

Witnesses for the prosecution testified as to the following facts. Correctional Officer Efrén Rosario was working in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico (MDC Guaynabo). On August 20, 2020, he conducted an inmate count with the assistance of officer-in-training Marianés Santana. This count required the officers to confirm that each inmate was in his assigned cell and then lock the cell door.

- 2 - When Officers Rosario and Santana arrived at the cell shared by the appellant, Héctor Maldonado-Maldonado (Maldonado), and a third roommate, only the appellant was present. Officer Rosario searched the cell and found an extra pillow on Maldonado's bed, which violated prison policy. As Officer Rosario was removing the extra pillow, Maldonado rushed into the cell. He complained that "you're always putting your foot in the way of the inmate, [expletive deleted]."

Anger morphed into violence when Maldonado punched Officer Rosario in the face. The appellant then grabbed Officer Rosario from behind, allowing Maldonado to continue beating him. Stirring the pot further, the appellant encouraged the assault by twice saying "Hit him."

As the scuffle continued, Officers Rosario and Santana were able to press their emergency buttons, summoning reinforcements to the scene. Officer David Figueroa was one of two officers to arrive first. He pepper-sprayed both the appellant and Maldonado and then restrained the appellant against a wall. Officer Figueroa later testified that the appellant — after being pepper-sprayed — stated in a "normal tone": "I didn't do nothing" and "It wasn't me."

In due course, other officers arrived. Both the appellant and Maldonado were restrained and taken to the prison's infirmary.

- 3 - B

Once the dust had settled, the authorities charged both the appellant and Maldonado