What is the state of the law on "admission to drug smuggling"?

However, the government also strayed beyond the boundaries of permissible questioning and argument. The prosecutor repeatedly asserted that Flores had admitted to "drug smuggling." As a legal but irrelevant matter, Flores did admit to drug smuggling, see 21 U.S.C. 960just not the kind of drug smuggling with which she was charged, which the prosecutor had to know. Labeling Flores an "admitted drug smuggler" when she actually admitted to exportation required the government to walk a very fine line. It was "definitely improper" for the prosecutor to suggest that Flores admitted to "drug smuggling" when the prosecutor used the term as a synonym for importation because that misstated Flores's testimony. See United States v. Kojayan, 8 F.3d at 1321; see also Mageno, 762 F.3d at 943. At the same time, when loosely referencing "drug smuggling" to encompass exportation, the government could, without misstating testimony, assert that Flores admitted to drug smuggling. However, it was improper to use the "admission to drug smuggling" lingo in this loose manner when suggesting that such an admission was sufficient to warrant a conviction for the crime charged. Doing so misstates the law, because

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Flores was not charged with exportationthe only form of drug smuggling to which she actually admitted.