Opinion ID: 3036581
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdictional Inquiry

Text: Although I agree with the majority that the district court erred in concluding it had jurisdiction over the Gran Tauro defendants, I diverge from the majority in its conclusion that the district court erred in finding it had jurisdiction over the Go-Fast defendants. Section 1903(a), under which all defendants were prosecuted, states: It is unlawful for any person on board a vessel of the United States, or on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, or who is a citizen UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA 2621 of the United States . . . on board any vessel, to knowingly or intentionally manufacture or distribute, or to possess with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance. 46 App. U.S.C. § 1903(a) (emphasis added). In this circuit, whether a vessel is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States involves an analysis of two distinct elements, which have been coined “statutory jurisdiction” and “constitutional jurisdiction.” United States v. Medjuck, 156 F.3d 916, 918 (9th Cir. 1998). The district court found that it had statutory jurisdiction over the Go-Fast defendants because the Go-Fast was a stateless vessel, or a “vessel without nationality.” Section 1903(c) defines vessels that are “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States” under the MDLEA. Included is “a vessel without nationality.” § 1903(c)(1)(A). “A vessel without nationality,” for purposes of the MDLEA, can take one of three forms: (A) a vessel aboard which the master or person in charge makes a claim of registry, which claim is denied by the flag nation whose registry is claimed; (B) any vessel aboard which the master or person in charge fails, upon request of an officer of the United States empowered to enforce applicable provisions of United States law, to make a claim of nationality or registry for that vessel; and (C) a vessel aboard which the master or person in charge makes a claim of registry and the claimed nation of registry does not affirmatively and unequivocally assert that the vessel is of its nationality. 46 App. U.S.C. § 1903(c)(2). Section § 1903(c)(3) further defines “a claim of nationality or registry” as including only: 2622 UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA (A) possession on board the vessel and production of documents evidencing the vessel’s nationality in accordance with article 5 of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas; (B) flying its flag nation’s ensign or flag; or (C) a verbal claim of nationality or registry by the master or person in charge of the vessel. Id. § 1903(c)(3). In 1996, Congress amended § 1903 by adding § 1903(f), which states: “Jurisdiction of the United States with respect to vessels subject to this chapter is not an element of any offense. All jurisdictional issues arising under this chapter are preliminary questions of law to be determined solely by the trial judge.” 46 U.S.C. App. § 1903(f). Congress made clear through this amendment that the jurisdictional requirement is not an element of a § 1903(a) substantive offense, but rather is an issue that goes only to the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts. Constitutional limitations on congressional power to remove issues from the jury’s determination are narrow: “[t]he definition of the elements of a criminal offense is entrusted to the legislature, particularly in the case of federal crimes, which are solely creatures of statute.” Staples v. United States, 511 U.S. 600, 604 (1994) (internal quotations omitted). Although Congress’s decision on how to define the elements of the offense “is usually dispositive,” McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 85 (1986), the majority’s holding will render § 1903(f) meaningless in this case. We have analyzed the effect of § 1903(f) in two cases, and in both cases held that the determination of whether the court had jurisdiction over the vessel, or the waters where the vessel was intercepted, was a question for the court, consistent with the language of Congress’ 1996 amendment. In United States v. Smith, 282 F.3d 758 (9th Cir. 2002), the district court conUNITED STATES v. PERLAZA 2623 cluded that under § 1903(f), the court, not the jury, should decide both (1) whether the United States has jurisdiction over the place where the vessel was allegedly intercepted; and (2) whether the vessel was actually intercepted at that place. Id. at 766. This circuit rejected the district court’s interpretation as “over-inclusive,” holding that where the vessel was actually intercepted was a question for the jury, but that § 1903(f) empowers the court to make the determination of whether the United States has jurisdiction over that location. Id. In the subsequent case of United States v. Moreno-Morillo, 334 F.3d 819 (9th Cir. 2003), as in this case, jurisdiction depended not on the factual determination of where the ship was seized, as in Smith, but, rather, of the ship’s status vis-a- vis statelessness. Id. at 829. The court noted that unlike Smith, this case “cannot be separated neatly into two parts,” but concluded that the district court properly determined “that the Defendants’ vessel falls within the definition of ‘vessel without nationality’ under the MDLEA.” Id. at 830. The court reasoned that because the defendants had failed to challenge the substance of the State Department certificate noting that Colombia would neither affirm nor deny the vessel’s registry, “the substance of the certificate stands as the only—and therefore uncontroverted—evidence in the record regarding statelessness.” Id. The case before us falls squarely within the contours of Smith and Moreno-Morillo. In Smith, the court noted that “the ‘jurisdictional issue’—whether the United States has jurisdiction over the waters where a vessel is allegedly intercepted— can and should be decided by the trial court as a preliminary question of law.” Id. at 767. Here, the district court faced an analogous jurisdictional issue: whether the United States had jurisdiction over the Go-Fast. Just as in Smith, where the trial court determined the status of the waters in question, here, the district court determined the status of the vessel in question. The jurisdictional inquiry in this case did not involve a “fac2624 UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA tual issue,” because the question was whether the United States had jurisdiction over the vessel, not whether the GoFast defendants were on the vessel. This “dual inquiry” analysis is well-supported in our circuit. For example, in United States v. Warren, the defendant was charged with stabbing a man at a Hawaii army base, Schofield Barracks. 984 F.2d 325, 327 (9th Cir. 1993). At the outset, the district court determined that Schofield Barracks was within the jurisdiction of the United States, but the court never had the jury find whether the stabbing actually took place at the base. Id. We held that the district court properly decided whether the base was within the jurisdiction of the United States, but that the instruction improperly omitted the issue of whether the stabbing occurred on the base. Id. Here, the district court properly determined whether the Go-Fast was subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, leaving any question of whether the defendants were on the Go-Fast to the jury. “A district court may determine as a matter of law the existence of federal jurisdiction over the geographic area, but the locus of the offense within that area is an issue for the trier of fact.” Id. (internal quotations omitted); accord United States v. Sohappy, 770 F.2d 816, 821 (9th Cir. 1985) (holding that district court properly determined whether “Cooks Landing” was “Indian country” and then correctly “instructed jury that they need only find that the violations occurred in Cooks Landing”). Moreno-Morillo’s interpretation of Smith further supports the position that the Go-Fast’s status was a question for the court, not the jury. In Moreno-Morillo, the court held that since the evidence presented to the court regarding statelessness was uncontroverted, there were no factual issues for the jury to determine. 334 F.3d at 831. Here, the evidence presented with regard to the Go-Fast’s status is similarly uncontroverted. A United States officer who observed the Go-Fast by using sensitive surveillance equipment testified that they saw no flags of any kind, no marking of any kind, no hull UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA 2625 numbers, no name on the vessel, and no home-port inscription. Moreover, when Petty Officer Craig Cruz boarded the Gran Tauro and asked the members of the Go-Fast if the vessel had a flag, Go-Fast defendants Reina and Murillo simply shook their heads back and forth and defendant Aborno stated “Barco no tengo bandera,” which literally means, “Boat I have no flag.” Officer Cruz also testified that later, when asked who was in charge of the Go-Fast, Murillo stated that the ship captain was a person named Freddy, who, according to Cruz’s report “was the only one who really knew about the boat expedition.” Although the court indicated that this statement was not produced for its truth, i.e., that Freddy was in fact the captain, the statement indicates that when Cruz inquired as to the Go-Fast’s captain, neither Murillo nor Reina proclaimed to be the master or person in charge. Reina and Murillo individually introduced declarations to the district court indicating that they both told Cruz that they were from Colombia and that the boat was from Colombia. Murillos’s declaration stated that “[I] told the Coast Guard Officers that I was a Colombian citizen from the city of Buenaventura, Colombia.” “Buenaventura” was crossed out in the declaration and replaced with illegible handwriting. The declaration also stated: “I also told them that the our boat was from Buenaventura, Colombia.” Again, “Buenaventura” was crossed out. Reina’s declaration similarly stated that “[I] told the Coast Guard Officers that I was a Colombian citizen from the City of Valle Sudano (Colombia).” “Valle Sudano” was crossed out, and replaced with illegible writing. Reina’s declaration also stated “I also told them that our boat was from Baiazolano (DM) Colombia.” Taken together, this evidence does not leave any factual determinations that need to be made by the jury. The defendants’ statements to Cruz that they were from Colombia are legally insignificant under the jurisdictional inquiry, as neither claimed to be the person in charge of the vessel, as required by § 1903(c)(3)(C). The statements that the boat “was from Colombia” made by persons not claiming to be the master or person in charge are also 2626 UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA legally insignificant, and no further facts or documents to support a “claim of nationality or registry” were asserted by the defendants. Since no evidence was presented to create a factual dispute with regard to the Go-Fast’s status as a “vessel without nationality,” under Moreno-Morillo, the district court properly determined that the vessel was stateless based on the uncontroverted evidence in the record. For these reasons, the district court correctly concluded that it had jurisdiction over the Go-Fast defendants on the basis of the vessel being “without a nationality” under § 1903(c), and the convictions of the Go-Fast defendants should be upheld.