Opinion ID: 415511
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the more binding precedent.

Text: 55 The majority claims that Cadena was the earliest precedent to deal with the problem before us. Cadena was the first case only to the extent that it dealt with the conviction of a foreign crew member found on board a marijuana-laden boat outside United States territorial waters. Long before Cadena was decided, we had held that persons could be convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute on the basis of the size of the cache. See, e.g., United States v. Cortez, 521 F.2d 1, 4 (5th Cir.1975) (affirming conviction on one count of conspiracy to import and to possess with intent to distribute of owner of automobile who was present at arrival of boat carrying 300 pounds of marijuana, and stating that distribution was established by the fact that it was virtually impossible for two mere mortals to consume 300 pounds of marijuana, personally, within a reasonable span of time); United States v. Maslanka, 501 F.2d 208 (5th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 921, 95 S.Ct. 1567, 43 L.Ed.2d 777 (1975) (affirming convictions of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and possession of persons observed on a beach where 18,000 pounds of marijuana was floating, but reversing convictions of conspiracy to import and importation because there was not sufficient evidence that the contraband came from a foreign source); see also United States v. Perry, 480 F.2d 147 (5th Cir.1973) (affirming conviction of substantive offense of possession with intent to distribute and holding that the size of the cache could support the inference that the contraband was not solely for personal use); United States v. Mather, 465 F.2d 1035 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1085, 93 S.Ct. 685, 34 L.Ed.2d 672 (1972) (same). Cadena is the first case only to the extent that any case may be considered as the first based on its unique set of facts. The doctrine of stare decisis precludes such a broad understanding of first case. 56 While the majority notes that Cadena and Rodriguez have never been specifically abandoned, they appear to have been overruled sub silentio, since there has been no case that has followed either precedent for the proposition that the amount of contraband imported cannot be the sole basis for connecting a defendant to an existing conspiracy to distribute. The cases have either attempted to distinguish Cadena, see United States v. Chaparro-Almeida, 679 F.2d 423 (5th Cir.1982) (convictions affirmed where marijuana-laden vessel was stopped within seven miles of the Louisiana coast while boat was waiting to deliver marijuana to two Americans), or ignored it completely. See United States v. Borchardt, 698 F.2d 697 (5th Cir.1983) (affirming convictions of conspiracies to import and to possess with intent to distribute, and substantive offenses, of person who arranged importation of 481 pounds of marijuana from Mexico); 1 United States v. Scott, 678 F.2d 606 (5th Cir.1982) (affirming convictions of conspiracy to import and to possess with intent to distribute of some persons found on pleasure boat that contained 30,000 pounds of marijuana, but reversing convictions of those defendants not shown to have knowledge of the cargo); United States v. Escobar, 674 F.2d 469 (5th Cir.1982) (affirming convictions of crew--and captain--on shrimp boat, where the boat had left a foreign port with at least four tons of marijuana and docked in Mississippi without it); United States v. Hernandez, 668 F.2d 824 (5th Cir.1982) (affirming conviction of person who got off of a boat that contained thirteen bales of marijuana and five boxes of methaqualone tablets, where he had keys to the cabin where the contraband was kept and had a station wagon on land waiting to transport the boat); Mazyak, supra (affirming convictions of captain and crew found on forty-two foot trawler laden with 14,611 pounds of marijuana; the trawler had left Miami nineteen days before it was stopped seventy miles south of Cuba); United States v. Shelnut, 625 F.2d 59 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 983, 101 S.Ct. 1520, 67 L.Ed.2d 818 (1981) (citing United States v. Love, 599 F.2d 107 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 944, 100 S.Ct. 302, 62 L.Ed.2d 312 (1979)) (affirming convictions of defendants who were found on a shrimping vessel headed toward Texas, where the boat contained no shrimping equipment or shrimp, but did contain fifteen tons of marijuana). Other cases have cited Rodriguez for the contrary proposition, i.e., that participation in the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute may be inferred from the size of the cache. In Mann, supra, we held: 57 The defendants were apprehended with over 22,500 pounds of marijuana in their possession, far too much for the personal consumption of four individuals. Having determined that defendants planned to import their cargo, the jury was entitled to infer from the facts before it that some plan had been made for its disposition. As we have previously noted [t]he very size of a ... cache can be sufficient to show intent to distribute.... United States v. Rodriguez, 585 F.2d 1234, 1246 (5th Cir.1978), aff'd, 612 F.2d 906 (5th Cir.1980) (en banc). 58 615 F.2d at 670 (other citations omitted); see also United States v. Perez, 648 F.2d 219 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1055, 102 S.Ct. 602, 70 L.Ed.2d 592 (1981) (citing Mann's citation of Rodriguez in affirming convictions of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, where agents watched defendants unload 18,900 pounds of marijuana onto a conveyor belt behind a Florida beach house). Thus Cadena and Rodriguez stand alone for the proposition that a defendant cannot be convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute on the basis of the large quantity of contraband that he has imported. 59 Finally, the majority maintains that Cadena is the better-reasoned precedent. The majority heavily emphasizes the well-settled rule that [t]o be legitimate or permissible, an inference must be deduced as a logical consequence of facts presented in evidence, and there must be a logical and rational connection between the facts in evidence and the fact to be inferred. at 504. Since I agree with the majority that an inference must flow logically from the facts, I set them forth at the outset of this dissent. One more well-settled principle must be kept in mind, however: a jury verdict should not be overturned lightly. The test for sufficiency of the evidence in this circuit is whether a reasonable trier of fact could [have found] that the evidence establishe[d] guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Bell, 678 F.2d 547, 549 (5th Cir.) (en banc), cert. granted on other grounds, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 444, 74 L.Ed.2d 600 (1982). 60 There is no doubt in this case about the existence of a conspiracy to distribute the marijuana found on board the ALEX LUZ. The customs agents were able to apprehend the vessel and her crew because the Florida-based importers had informed undercover agents, who were posing as persons interested in aiding in the distribution of marijuana, that the ALEX LUZ was carrying a cargo of contraband for distribution in the United States. The American importers gave the agents detailed information about the boat and the site planned for the rendezvous with a second boat; the second boat was supposed to bring the marijuana into the United States. 61 Michelena-Orovio himself was arrested on board a small vessel, the ALEX LUZ, that had just completed a relatively lengthy voyage from Colombia. The boat was laden with twelve tons of marijuana and reeked of its illicit cargo. Although the boat was a shrimping vessel, there was no fishing equipment aboard and no cargo other than the contraband. The marijuana was found in the ship's cargo hold. The cargo hatch was neither locked nor fastened, and there was open access to the cargo hold from the engine room of the vessel. 62 The ship's crew, including Michelena-Orovio, engaged in a concerted endeavor to elude capture and protect each other. When the Coast Guard first spotted the vessel, it had its lights reversed so that it appeared to be going in the direction opposite to its actual course, apparently in the hopes that it would escape detection. The boat changed direction as soon as its crew became aware of the Coast Guard's presence. When the agents came on board, all eight crew members were waiting on deck with their bags packed, and all eight insisted that there was no captain aboard the vessel. 63 The majority agrees that this collocation of circumstances, Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942), was sufficient to support Michelena-Orovio's conviction of conspiracy to import marijuana. The issue is whether those same circumstances, in particular the covert importation of a large quantity of marijuana, were sufficient to support the conviction of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the marijuana. 2 I conclude that they were, and that the line of cases permitting the inference of participation in the distribution conspiracy from participation in the conspiracy to import a large quantity of marijuana is the more consistent with the general law developed in this and other circuits concerning drug conspiracies. Further, the allowance of this inference does not infringe on the requirement that the government prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. See In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). 64