United States v. Abelardo Niebla-Torres, 847 F.3d 1049

Abelardo Niebla-Torres (Mexican national) was arrested on Nov. 27, 2014 on Pozo Redondo Mountain (Ajo corridor), an area known for drug-smuggling scouts and backpackers.
Agents found Niebla and co-defendant Andres Garcia-Espinoza hiding on a remote summit; items recovered/observed included radios, radio batteries, cell phones, binoculars, camouflage clothing, and a satchel; no marijuana was seized.
Niebla gave a videotaped confession admitting he served as a scout for two groups (8–10 people each) carrying ~20 kg suitcases he believed contained marijuana; he later pleaded guilty to illegal reentry but contested the drug-conspiracy charge at bench trial.
He moved to suppress the confession as involuntary (claiming pre-interview coercion); the magistrate and district court found the recorded interview reliable and voluntarily made.
At trial the government presented agent testimony, an expert on local smuggling practices, and evidence of a prior 2011 scouting arrest; the district court denied a Rule 29 motion for acquittal and convicted Niebla of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency under corpus delicti — core conduct occurred	Gov’t failed to independently corroborate that a conspiracy to smuggle marijuana occurred because no drugs were seized	Niebla argued evidence equally consistent with non-drug activities (e.g., human smuggling or evasion) and thus insufficient to establish conspiracy to traffic marijuana	Court held corroborating circumstantial evidence (location known for drug routes, observed scouting behavior, comms equipment, expert testimony, prior arrest) satisfied the first prong — core conduct occurred
Sufficiency under corpus delicti — reliability of confession	Confession may have been coached during a two-hour pre-recording delay and thus unreliable	Gov’t pointed to videotaped, voluntary, Miranda-compliant interview and corroborating facts aligning with confession	Court held the videotaped statement was spontaneous, voluntary, and corroborated by independent evidence, satisfying the second prong

Opper v. United States, 348 U.S. 84 (1954) (confession alone insufficient—requires independent corroboration)
Lopez-Alvarez v. United States, 970 F.2d 583 (9th Cir. 1992) (two-part corpus delicti test: core conduct and reliability of confession)
United States v. Valdez-Novoa, 780 F.3d 906 (9th Cir. 2015) (recorded, voluntary confession can be inherently reliable)
Jimenez Recio v. United States, 537 U.S. 270 (2003) (impossibility of accomplishing object is no defense to conspiracy; agreement is the evil at core)
Smith v. United States, 348 U.S. 147 (1954) (corroborative evidence need not prove offense beyond a reasonable doubt)
United States v. Corona-Garcia, 210 F.3d 973 (9th Cir. 2000) (standard for reviewing Rule 29 sufficiency; confession corroboration principles)
United States v. Williams, 547 F.3d 1187 (9th Cir. 2008) (conspiracy may be proven via circumstantial evidence)