United States Court of Appeals
                        For the First Circuit


No. 20-1156

                      UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                              Appellee,

                                  v.

                            MINERVA RUIZ,

                        Defendant, Appellant.


           APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

              [Hon. Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Judge]


                                Before

                 Lynch and Kayatta, Circuit Judges,
                   and Woodcock, District Judge.


     Emmett E. Robinson and Robinson Law Firm, LLC, on brief for
appellant.
     Lauren A. Graber, Assistant United States Attorney, and
Andrew E. Lelling, United States Attorney, on brief for appellee.


                             June 4, 2021




       Of the District of Maine, sitting by designation.
           WOODCOCK, District Judge.       On July 24, 2019, a jury

convicted Minerva Ruiz of one count of conspiracy to distribute

and to possess with intent to distribute heroin in violation of 

 and one count of distribution of heroin in violation

of 

(a)(1).     On January 21, 2020, the district court

imposed a downward variant sentence of forty-eight months of

imprisonment followed by a two-year term of supervised release.

           Ruiz   appeals   her   convictions   and   sentence   on   three

grounds.    First, she contends the       district court abused its

discretion by finding certain coconspirator statements were non-

hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E) and admitting

the statements into evidence.       Second, she submits the district

court failed to properly instruct the jury about the elements of

her offenses.     Third, she argues the district court clearly erred

by applying a three-level mitigating role reduction under United

States Sentencing Guidelines § 3B1.2 rather than a four-level

minimal role reduction.     We affirm the convictions and sentence.

I.   Background

           Because Ruiz does not contest the sufficiency of the

evidence presented against her, we recount the facts in a "balanced

way, without favoring either side."       United States v. Arias, 

, 509 n.1 (quoting United States v. Rodríguez-Soler, 

, 290 (1st Cir. 2014)).


                                  - 2 -
     A.     The Crime

            In June of 2017, the United States Drug Enforcement

Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

began investigating a man named Dalnovis Delarosa Arias.              The

investigation started after a Puerto Rican HSI confidential source

(CS) told agents that       an unidentified male using a specific

cellphone number was selling heroin in Massachusetts.          Under the

oversight of federal agents, the CS set up a phone call on June

28, 2017, between Delarosa and a cooperating witness named Bernie

Bravo.     During the call, Delarosa told Bravo he could sell Bravo

multiple kilograms of heroin, and Delarosa agreed to meet Bravo in

Charlestown, Massachusetts, to discuss the terms of the heroin

deal.    Delarosa told Bravo that he did not drive but would find a

ride to the meeting.      At the instruction of federal agents, Bravo

recorded    this   call   and    all   subsequent   communications   with

Delarosa.

            On July 13, 2017, Bravo and Delarosa met in Charlestown

to discuss a heroin deal.       At the time, Delarosa was dating Minerva

Ruiz.      Around 2:00 p.m., before the Charlestown meeting, law

enforcement saw Delarosa and Ruiz outside an apartment on Milton

Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where Ruiz lived with her

parents.    Law enforcement observed Delarosa and Ruiz standing near

the rear of a white Honda Civic that was registered to Ruiz at the

Milton Street address. After some time, Delarosa and Ruiz departed