Mexican Mafia Messenger’s Convictions Upheld for the Second Time

A member of the Canta Ranas Organization who served as a “secretary” to an imprisoned leader of the Mexican Mafia lost her appeal challenging her convictions for the second time Monday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit assumed the expert testimony that Sylvia Olivas challenged, when considered in the aggregate, was problematic under the US Supreme Court’s decision in Diaz v. United States. But it said it wasn’t the kind of plain error the district court should have recognized, given the “peculiar circumstances” of the case.

The expert’s challenged statements, each of which was independently permissible, ...