Opinion ID: 689216
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Dispute Over Alzate's Statement to Agent Ostis

Text: 9 One of the chief obstacles to Alzate's duress defense was the testimony of Agent Ostis about a statement Alzate had made while Ostis was interviewing him at the Miami airport, shortly after his arrest. During the government's case-in-chief, Ostis testified that, upon questioning, Alzate said he had been paid $8,000 for transporting the cocaine, and that he needed the money for his family and to repay a debt. The government's position was that that statement, and not Alzate's testimony at trial, was the truth. 10 The defense strategy was to explain Agent Ostis's testimony about the statement as a misunderstanding due to a language problem between Agent Ostis and Alzate. The defense had something to work with in this regard, because Agent Ostis acknowledged that: Alzate was given a Spanish language Miranda form; Ostis spoke very little Spanish; yet, Ostis interviewed Alzate without an interpreter. Alzate testified that he had difficulty with English and, for that reason, he and Agent Ostis had problems communicating. 11 The position of the defense was that Alzate had thought that Agent Ostis's question had been about another box of cocaine in the room where Alzate was being questioned. Alzate had been under the impression that Agent Ostis was asking him how much he thought someone would be paid to bring a box of cocaine that large into the country, and Alzate had replied that he did not know, but he guessed about $8,000. That was the explanation the defense attempted to get before the jury. It did not succeed in that attempt, for reasons explained below. 12