Opinion ID: 405240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: fishy business

Text: 3 Deral Gene Holman owns the Holman Seafood Company, a fishing concern in Southport, Bay County, Florida. The company's operations consist of catching fish aboard Holman's commercial snapper boat, the Red Fin II, unloading them at company-owned docks and processing them at the Holman Seafood House. Deral Gene's three sons, Deral Keith, Donald Bruce and Michael, are employees of the company. Together with Johnny Obert, they assist as fishermen on the Red Fin II. 4 Around midnight one evening in July, 1979, Johnny Obert, Donald Bruce and Deral Keith steered the Red Fin II to a spot in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 150 miles south of Pensacola. There, the Red Fin II met a one-hundred foot Colombian boat and proceeded to load from it bales of marijuana wrapped in burlap bags. Together with its crew, the Red Fin II immediately returned to the Holman Seafood House. Later that same night, trucks arrived at the House. Donald Bruce, Deral Keith and Johnny Obert loaded the bales of marijuana onto the vehicles; Deral Keith retained several bales for subsequent sale. His father, Deral Gene, was present intermittently during the entire unloading period. After the trucks departed, Deral Keith, Donald Bruce and Johnny Obert cleaned up the residue of marijuana. 5 One week later, Deral Keith obtained approximately $60,000.00 from his father, as payment for his services in the drug transaction; Donald Bruce and Johnny Obert each received in the neighborhood of $25,000.00, together with a bale of marijuana. For his part, Deral Gene was paid more than $60,000.00. 6 A federal grand jury indicted Deral Gene, Deral Keith, Donald Bruce, as well as Johnny Obert, for committing drug offenses in connection with the July '79 transaction. In order to obtain immunity from prosecution, Deral Keith agreed to testify on behalf of the government. After a polygraph examination revealed that his accusations implicating his brother, Michael, were false, allegations in the indictment against Michael were dismissed. Deral Keith went on to testify at trial against his father, Donald Bruce and Johnny Obert, following which all pending charges against Deral Keith were likewise dismissed. 7 Throughout the trial, Johnny Obert and Donald Bruce Holman denied any participation whatsoever in the illicit scheme. Deral Gene admitted granting Keith permission to use the Red Fin II for the operation; he maintained, however, that his consent was involuntarily obtained. Insisting that he had refused at first to go along with the scheme proposed by Deral Keith, he stated that it was not until his son informed him that he, Deral Keith, had been threatened with machine guns, that Deral Gene finally acquiesced. 8 The jury rejected these defenses and found the defendants guilty as charged. Deral Gene Holman was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and payment of a $30,000.00 fine. Donald Bruce Holman and Johnny Obert each were sentenced to serve a prison term of six years and to pay a penalty of $30,000.00. 9