Opinion ID: 436120
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Conspiracy Counts (I & II)

Text: 7 The United States has long exercised jurisdiction to attach criminal consequences to extraterritorial acts that are intended to have effect within the sovereign territory, see United States v. Cadena, 585 F.2d 1252, 1257-58 (5th Cir.1978), at least where overt acts within the United States can be proved. United States v. Postal, 589 F.2d 862, 885-87 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 832, 100 S.Ct. 61, 62 L.Ed.2d 40 (1979). In this circuit, furthermore, when the statute pursuant to which the United States is attempting to attach criminal consequences does not require proof of an overt act, jurisdiction attaches [to extraterritorial acts] upon a mere showing of intended territorial effects. United States v. Ricardo, 619 F.2d 1124, 1129 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1063, 101 S.Ct. 789, 66 L.Ed.2d 607 (1980). 8 The defendants in this case were charged in Counts I and II of the indictment with controlled-substance conspiracies; in Count I of the indictment, the defendants were charged with conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841, 846, and in Count II of the indictment the defendants were charged with conspiracy to import marijuana into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 960, 963. Proof of an overt act is not necessary in order to obtain a conviction under either of the above conspiracy statutes. See United States v. Mann, 615 F.2d 668, 671 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 944, 101 S.Ct. 1694, 68 L.Ed.2d 193 (1981); United States v. Rodriguez, 612 F.2d 906, 919 n. 37 (5th Cir.1980) (en banc), aff'd, 450 U.S. 333, 101 S.Ct. 1137, 67 L.Ed.2d 275 (1981). Thus, in this case, the jurisdictional requisites with regard to the controlled-substance conspiracy counts may be satisfied merely by proof of intended territorial effects within the sovereign territory of the United States. 9 The United States offered as proof of the intended territorial effects in the United States of the charged conspiracies the testimony of Commander White that, based upon his initial sighting in the Gulf of Mexico of the then northeasterly bound shrimper, the shrimper would have landed in the United States. The defendants argue that from the point of the initial sighting of the shrimper in the Gulf of Mexico, the shrimper could have turned and proceeded to any number of other destinations other than the United States, and that such proof standing alone is therefore insufficient to support a conclusion that the defendants intended territorial effects in the United States. Thus, they argue that the evidence in the record was insufficient to support the district court's assertion of jurisdiction with regard to counts I and II, and, accordingly, that the convictions on those counts must be reversed. 10 We find, however, that the evidence was sufficient to support the assertion of jurisdiction. Here, for instance, the destination, for an illegal purpose, in the United States is somewhat corroborated by the immediate change of the United States-bound vessel to an opposite direction upon sighting of the Coast Guard cutter. Further, this court upheld in United States v. DeWeese, 632 F.2d 1267, 1271-72 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 878, 102 S.Ct. 358, 70 L.Ed.2d 188 (1981), as sufficient to establish the requisite intended territorial effects of an extraterritorial act, an evidentiary showing similar to that set forth by the government herein, i.e., the testimony of a Coast Guard Commander. Although the testimony in DeWeese was based upon evidence in addition to the sighting of a suspect vessel, 1 we find that the evidence in this case was likewise sufficient for a reasonable-minded juror to conclude that the intended destination was the United States, United States v. Bell, 678 F.2d 547, 549 (5th Cir.1982) (en banc), aff'd, 462 U.S. 356, 103 S.Ct. 2398, 76 L.Ed.2d 638 (1983). 11 We therefore uphold the assertion of jurisdiction as to those counts.