Opinion ID: 531042
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Frank Diaz's Relationship to the Decedent

Text: 6 In the federal district court, the appellant and the federal government disagreed as to the scope of discovery that should be made available to the appellant with regards to the government's ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of Frank Diaz. Diaz, who is the subject of two federal grand jury indictments in the Southern District of Florida concerning the laundering of approximately $600,000, has been a fugitive from justice since 1985 when he failed to appear in federal court to enter a guilty plea. Since that time, Deputy Marshal Shawn Conboy has spearheaded the effort to locate Diaz. 7 As part of his investigation, Conboy engaged a confidential informant who provided Conboy certain information regarding Diaz's whereabouts. It is the information provided by this confidential informant that is at the heart of the present controversy. 1 8 Since Diaz has been a fugitive, he had business dealings with the deceased, Stanley Cohen. Exactly what the nature of those dealings was is unclear, but the appellant intimates that the relationship concerned her husband's activities as a middleman in a large scale cocaine ring and Diaz's experience as an alleged money launderer. According to one of appellant's witnesses, at some point in time after Diaz became a fugitive and before Cohen was killed, Cohen held a large sum of money for Diaz. In addition, Cohen and Diaz were known to have vacationed at the island of Martinique after Diaz became a fugitive, and Cohen bragged to an acquaintance that he had a connection who could get in touch with Diaz any time Cohen needed him. 9 Approximately one week before Cohen was murdered, Diaz visited Cohen at his home in the Coconut Grove section of Miami, Florida. During this visit, Diaz was accompanied by an unidentified young woman. This visit was witnessed by both the appellant and her son. 2 10 Although Diaz's subsequent conversation with Cohen that day was out of earshot from the witnesses, one of the topics discussed apparently concerned an airplane owned by Cohen. According to testimony from a Drug Enforcement Agent, Cohen's airplane had been on a watch list since August 1985 as having been suspected as being used to smuggle currency out of the United States into Panama. 11 One week after the visit, on March 7, 1986, Cohen was murdered in the bedroom of his home in Coconut Grove. On this day, according to Conboy's confidential informant, Diaz was back in Miami. Although several individuals including Diaz were initially suspected of having committed Cohen's murder, Cohen's wife, appellant Joyce Cohen, was subsequently indicted for having arranged to have her husband executed.