Opinion ID: 395194
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Destination of the COWBOY

Text: 24 Appellants assert that the evidence was insufficient to establish that they intended to import marijuana into the United States. The standard of review in a criminal case when the issue is sufficiency of the evidence is whether a reasonable minded jury must necessarily entertain a reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt under the evidence. United States v. Slone, 601 F.2d 800, 802 (5th Cir. 1979). In evaluating a claim of insufficient evidence according to this standard, we must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942), resolving reasonable inferences and credibility choices in support of the jury's verdict, United States v. Henderson, 588 F.2d 157, 161 (5th Cir. 1979). 25 Specifically, appellants argue that DeWeese's testimony that the COWBOY's destination was a point 13-14 miles off the coast of Mexico was not refuted beyond a reasonable doubt by the government's evidence. We disagree. 26 The government presented two witnesses to show that the COWBOY's destination was the United States. First, Travis Kuykendall, Staff Coordinator for the Mexican and Central American Division of Enforcement for the DEA, testified that in his experience he had never heard of Colombian marijuana being imported into Mexico. Agent Kuykendall supported his conclusion by a discussion of the economics of marijuana. He explained that a pound of Mexican marijuana sells for $50 in Mexico and $150 in the United States and that Mexico annually exports 2000 to 3000 tons of marijuana to the States. Furthermore, he testified that Colombian marijuana sells for $350 a pound in the United States. Based on the above factors, Kuykendall concluded that there is no market for Colombian marijuana in Mexico. 27 Second, Commander Howard Gehring of the Coast Guard, who was qualified as an expert in navigation and oceanography, concluded that the COWBOY was en route to a United States port. Gehring's opinion was based on the assumption that a prudent mariner would take advantage of ocean currents, weather, bottom topography, and tides. The COWBOY had maintained two headings: 290 to 300 degrees, or northwest, and 340 degrees, or north-northwest. Gehring found that a vessel maintaining such headings in the Straits of Yucatan was positioned to take advantage of currents which would carry it north to the United States. The COWBOY's headings would not have favored a destination of Mexico, Cuba, or the Bahamas. 28 Gehring also analyzed the navigational charts discovered aboard the COWBOY. He concluded that only the charts for Mobile Bay, Alabama and the west coast of Florida, primarily Tampa Bay and Tarpon Springs, provided sufficient detail for a safe entry into port. It was noted that the only tidal tables on board the COWBOY were for Tarpon Springs. Gehring stated that the absence of detailed charts for Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas, or anywhere outside of Mobile and west coast of Florida, would have prevented the COWBOY from safely entering foreign ports. 29 Based on the testimony of Agent Kuykendall and Commander Gehring, a reasonable jury could have rejected DeWeese's testimony and concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that the COWBOY's destination was an American port.