Opinion ID: 395194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Travels and Tale of the COWBOY

Text: 3 At dawn on May 14, 1979, the Coast Guard cutter POINT LOBOS observed an unidentified vessel on its radar, approximately nine miles away. The Commanding Officer of the POINT LOBOS proceeded to investigate the vessel, noting as he approached that the vessel was on a heading of 290 to 300 degrees, or northwest. When the POINT LOBOS was three miles away from the subject vessel, the vessel changed course, resulting in a heading of 340 degrees, or north-northwest. As the POINT LOBOS continued its approach, her commanding officer identified the subject vessel as a large shrimp boat and observed the name COWBOY and the home port Mobile painted on the stern of the vessel. He further observed that the COWBOY was not engaged in shrimping, as all of its fishing nets were on deck. 4 The POINT LOBOS closed to twenty-five yards and requested over the loudspeaker that the COWBOY stop for a boarding. A three-man party from the POINT LOBOS boarded the COWBOY. On board the COWBOY, Coast Guard Petty Officer Helms asked who was master and Jay Hilery DeWeese replied that he was captain. In response to Mr. Helms' request, DeWeese accompanied Mr. Helms to the pilot house and produced documentation papers showing that the COWBOY was a registered American vessel that cost $400,000 that had been launched in March, 1979, from Mobile, Alabama. 5 At the time of boarding, none of the COWBOY's shrimp nets were in the water. Mr. Helms also observed during inspection that the shrimping vessel was very clean. There were no shrimp nets attached to the COWBOY's extension booms. The boards used for dragging the shrimp nets were resting on deck. The metal strips covering the edges of the boards were rusty. This rust indicated that no shrimping had occurred because recent dragging on the sandy ocean floor would have polished the strips through a sandpaper effect. Based on what he observed concerning the COWBOY's shrimping gear, and based on his own experience with shrimping vessels, Mr. Helms concluded that the COWBOY had not been shrimping. When the COWBOY was taken back to port neither shrimp nor ice in quantities sufficient for shrimping was found. 6 After inspecting the COWBOY's documents and engine room, Mr. Helms asked DeWeese if he could take a look in the COWBOY's ice hold. Shrimp are usually stored in a shrimping vessel's ice hold. DeWeese responded, Sure, but you're not going to like what you find. When DeWeese and appellant Keesling opened the hatch, Mr. Helms saw bales of what he believed to be marijuana and smelled the odor of marijuana. The appellants and DeWeese were then placed under arrest. 7 The ice hold contained 503 bales of marijuana weighing 41,750 pounds. The wholesale value of the marijuana was approximately $8,000,000. 8 DeWeese testified during the government's case-in-chief pursuant to a court order and a grant of use immunity. DeWeese claimed that around May 1, 1979, he was contacted by the owner of the COWBOY and asked if he wanted to take the COWBOY out again. DeWeese agreed and traveled in a friend's private plane from Marathon to Tampa, together with appellant Millis. DeWeese and Millis then proceeded to Tarpon Springs, docked, and they found appellants Keesling, Bennett, and Freeman already on board. Freeman was the cook. Millis had experience as a captain on other vessels and could assist DeWeese in navigating. Keesling had been on three or four previous trips aboard the COWBOY and acted as engineer. Bennett was the fourth member. 9 DeWeese gave the following explanation for the thousands of pounds of marijuana aboard the COWBOY. On May 14, 1979, the COWBOY headed toward the Dry Tortugas allegedly to go shrimping. However, during his early morning watch en route to Dry Tortugas, DeWeese claimed to receive an unexpected radio call from an unknown vessel calling itself the BOTIM. This anonymous caller asked DeWeese if he wanted to make some money. DeWeese replied affirmatively. The mysterious caller then instructed DeWeese to travel two hundred miles to the Rosario Banks. There, the voice said, the COWBOY would be loaded with marijuana. DeWeese expressed concern about the risks of the project to his unknown solicitor. The voice replied that the COWBOY would not be taking its cargo back to the United States; hence, the danger of capture would be minimized. DeWeese testified that later that day he told his crew they would be importing marijuana, not shrimping. He claimed to have quelled their fears by saying the vessel would not be entering American waters with the marijuana. 10 Two days later the COWBOY arrived at Rosario Banks. After anchoring, the unknown caller once again contacted DeWeese and, at long last, identified himself as Raynolds. Raynolds instructed DeWeese to proceed to Serrano Banks, some 200 miles away, off the coast of Nicarauga. Once again, DeWeese testified, the crew expressed concern and once again he quelled their fears by explaining that the COWBOY would not be entering American waters. 11 After arriving at Serrano Banks the COWBOY remained anchored for two days. After that period DeWeese was contacted by the BOTIM and Raynolds. A rendezvous was arranged. When the BOTIM arrived DeWeese and Raynolds met alone in the wheelhouse. According to DeWeese, Raynolds told him that he would get $150,000 after delivery of a load of marijuana to a point approximately 13-14 miles off the Mexican coast. 12 DeWeese testified that while the appellants watched, crew members from the BOTIM loaded the COWBOY with marijuana. After being loaded the COWBOY departed. It was subsequently stopped by the Coast Guard cutter POINT LOBOS in the Straits of Yucatan. 13 DeWeese also testified that he was an experienced navigator. He claimed that he had never smuggled before. Government counsel confronted DeWeese with a navigational chart found aboard the COWBOY. The chart was devoted solely to the Isle de Providencia, a small island off Nicaragua and near Serrano Banks. DeWeese, however, continued to deny that he had planned in advance to travel to that area. 14 DeWeese insisted that he never discussed with appellants how they would be paid for their ten days at sea. But he did acknowledge that crew members on a shrimping trip usually are paid based on a share of the catch. DeWeese also testified that throughout the trip he slept four to six hours a day and that each appellant took his regular four hour watch. DeWeese also claimed that none of the appellants ever refused an order from DeWeese. 15 DeWeese's testimony was reputed in part by two government experts. Travis Kuykendall, Staff Coordinator for the Mexican and Central American Division of Enforcement for DEA, with six years experience as a DEA agent in Mexico, was qualified as an expert on the drug movement, trends, and economics of drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America. Kuykendall testified that the Isle de Providencia, the island for which the COWBOY carried a detailed navigational chart, is a well-known staging point and resupply area for ships leaving South America with narcotics. 16 Kuykendall also testified that marijuana is not smuggled into Mexico since Mexico is an exporter of marijuana, supplying the United States with 25-30% of its marijuana. The street value of Mexican marijuana actually sold in Mexico is $50 per pound compared to a street value of $150 to $200 per pound in the States. And Colombian marijuana has a street value of at least $350 per pound in the States. 17 Kuykendall further testified that the point some 13-14 miles off Mexico's coast which DeWeese claimed to be his destination is actually a major marijuana producing area. Finally, Kuykendall also testified that in his years of experience in monitoring drug traffic he had never heard of Colombian marijuana being smuggled into Mexico. 18 Commander Howard Gehring of the Coast Guard testified as an expert witness in oceanography and navigation. He based his opinion on the assumption that a prudent mariner on the high seas in a vessel the size of the COWBOY would make use of navigational charts, ocean currents, the weather, and tides in reaching a destination. Based on an analysis of these factors Gehring concluded that at the time of its seizure the COWBOY's heading indicated that its destination was the United States not Mexico. Furthermore, Gehring's analysis showed that the charts aboard the COWBOY would not allow it safely to enter any ports other than Mobile Bay and several west Florida ports. Finally, the only tidal tables which the COWBOY had on board were two handwritten tables for Tarpon Springs, Florida, one of which showed the times and heights of tides in that port for May, 1979. 19 The record does not show whether the government anticipated the substance of DeWeese's testimony or whether it was sandbagged. In either event, the jury obviously rejected the thrust of DeWeese's tale for they found the appellants guilty.