⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit hears Mitchell Jenkins's appeal of a conviction for resisting issuance of a citation by a federal land-management officer. Jenkins said his car was overheating when he left the road near Las Vegas, drove past construction barriers and stopped in the desert. A Bureau of Land Management ranger encountered him in an area closed to vehicles. The district judge upheld the conviction, finding enough evidence that the spot was public land and Jenkins knew it. His lawyer will argue that knowing an area is closed does not establish knowing it is BLM land; the government will defend the evidence as sufficient. The court will also address whether prosecutors can rely on a legal position they did not advance below. Jenkins also challenges a map used as evidence. Authentication means showing an exhibit is what the offering party says it is. Hearsay concerns someone's out-of-court statement offered as proof of what it says.

United States v. Jenkins (No. 25-6186) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued October 26, 2026.