A Plethora of Unique Legal Issues on the High Seas

Via Appellate Law and Practice

First Circuit

US v. Bravo, Nos. 05-1144, 05-1145, 05-1146, 05-1147.  This is a pretty large drug trafficking conviction.  The defendants were caught on a boat with over 1000 kilograms of marijuana.  The coast guard had seen them off 180 miles from the Dominican Republica “dead in the water” in a said boat that reeked of marijuana.   The Columbians government could neither confirm nor refute that they were a Columbian vessel.  So, the government argues that since the vessel was effectively stateless, the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act ("MDLEA"), 46 U.S.C. app. § 1903(c) lets the US exercise jurisdiction over it, and the First finds that no jurisdictional nexus between the defendant’s conduct and the US is required.

Read the whole story here.

First Circuit

US v. Bravo, Nos. 05-1144, 05-1145, 05-1146, 05-1147.  This is a pretty large drug trafficking conviction.  The defendants were caught on a boat with over 1000 kilograms of marijuana.  The coast guard had seen them off 180 miles from the Dominican Republica “dead in the water” in a said boat that reeked of marijuana.   The Columbians government could neither confirm nor refute that they were a Columbian vessel.  So, the government argues that since the vessel was effectively stateless, the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act ("MDLEA"), 46 U.S.C. app. § 1903(c) lets the US exercise jurisdiction over it, and the First finds that no jurisdictional nexus between the defendant’s conduct and the US is required.

Read the whole story here.