Opinion ID: 436120
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Extraterritorial Effects

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.
12 The defendants were charged in Count IV of the indictment with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, on board a vessel within the customs waters of the United States, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 955a. As is not disputed, United States authorities may enforce the laws of the United States in the customs waters as to the ship of another nation only as permitted by treaty or other arrangement with the foreign government. See 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1401(j); United States v. Marino-Garcia, 679 F.2d 1373, 1379-83 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1114, 103 S.Ct. 748, 74 L.Ed.2d 967 (1983). 13 The shrimper in this case was of Panamanian registry. Further, the shrimper was boarded by the Coast Guard on the high seas approximately 250-300 miles off the coast of the United States. Thus, the shrimper was subject to the laws of the United States only as permitted by a treaty or arrangement between the United States and the Panamanian government. 14 The United States sought to prove that such an arrangement existed between the United States and the Panamanian government with regard to the shrimper in this case. Essentially the government's proof as to the arrangement consisted of Commander White's testimony as to how he was advised by a series of teletype messages that the government of Panama had authorized his crew to board the shrimper, 2 plus certified copies of two of the messages. The defendants contend that the above evidence was hearsay, subjected to a timely objection, and that the erroneous admission of that evidence, being the only evidence submitted in proof of the arrangement, was an abuse of discretion. The United States in its brief concedes that the evidence introduced to prove an arrangement was hearsay. The district court, nonetheless, admitted the evidence, and the United States argues that under the residual exception to the hearsay rule, Fed.R.Evid. 803(24), 3 such a ruling was proper. 15 In applying the residual exception to the hearsay rule, district courts are given considerable discretion, and a court of appeals will not disturb the district court's application of the exception absent a definite and firm conviction that the court made a clear error of judgment in the conclusion it reached based upon a weighing of the relevant factors. Page v. Barko Hydraulics, 673 F.2d 134, 140 (5th Cir.1982). The Panamanian official who gave the requisite permission was not subject to the subpoena power of the United States and thus there was no non-hearsay alternative that was probative on the issue. The teletype messages introduced into evidence reflected the attainment and transmittal through diplomatic channels of the foreign government's authorization. The teletype messages of United States governmental agencies, the trial court felt, were of the requisite trustworthiness. No issue is raised as to the verity of their substantive contents. Although the defendants were furnished, by pretrial discovery, notice of the government's intended use of the hearsay evidence in question, which notice included a pretrial ruling by the district court that the teletypes were admissible, the defendants did not seek to raise any question with regard to those contents, nor did they attempt to produce evidence to the contrary of the contents of these teletypes. See Piva v. Xerox Corporation, 654 F.2d 591, 596 (9th Cir.1981). 16 The defendants principally rely upon United States v. Mathis, 559 F.2d 294, 298-300 (5th Cir.1977), for the proposition that in criminal cases the residual exception to the hearsay rule must yield in light of the presumption favoring live testimony engendered by a defendant's sixth amendment right to confrontation. The court in Mathis, however, merely suggested that the preference for live testimony should be an added consideration in the balancing required in applying the residual exception. Id. at 299. Nonetheless, even considering the preference for live testimony in criminal cases, we find no clear error in the admission of the evidence because the defendants do not attack the essential authenticity of the hearsay evidence, and we are unable to see how live testimony of State Department officials could have been more probative on the issue or have been more susceptible to attack by the defendants. 17 We do not feel that the district court made clear error in this case in weighing the relevant factors and concluding that the evidence was admissible on the ultimate issue of jurisdiction, because of its reliability and probativeness, and because their admission did not create undue or unfair prejudice to the defendants.