Page:United States v. Delgado (19-20697) (2021) Opinion.pdf/19

 legitimate purchases of wood that were merely accompanied by Perez’s independent “hope” that Delgado would rule favorably for him.

It is true that, to some extent, Perez was an inconsistent witness and that he sometimes minimized culpability during his testimony. But the jury was in a position to assess the credibility of Perez’s conflicting statements in light of the totality of the evidence and was free to conclude that Delgado agreed to accept money from Perez with the intent to be influenced in his decision to secure favorable outcomes for Perez’s clients.

As described in detail above, Perez testified extensively on direct examination about how he would buy wood from Delgado at inflated prices with the aim of securing favorable outcomes for his clients. And during the December 2016 meeting with Delgado, Perez was wearing a wire that recorded him asking Delgado “[y]ou think we could do a little wood?” right before engaging in a back and forth about the circumstances of Raul Sanchez’s pending motion to revoke. Delgado tells Perez that he is “going to help [Perez] out” but that they need “to do it right” because he “do[esn’t] want people wondering.” Perez then pays him $260 for “wood” and two days later Sanchez is released on a PR bond. A rational juror could conclude that this was bribery.

Delgado’s nearly identical challenge to his conviction under Count Three similarly fails. The November 2017 sting involving Perez’s client Lucio Leija and his pending motion to revoke played out in similar fashion to the December 2016 sting. A rational juror could again conclude that this was another instance of bribery.

Count Four was premised on the January 2018 sting where Perez paid Delgado $5,500 in cash after discussing Perez’s client Joe Garza. Delgado repeats his same argument about Perez’s testimony and the lack of an explicit agreement, but also argues that the evidence shows that Delgado met Perez