Opinion ID: 628059
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 2 This case involves the importation of marijuana in small aircraft. There are numerous characters in the plot and a large number of transactions. The defendants were in the practice of using their own airplanes, or leasing, stealing or borrowing other planes to fly to Belize, pick up loads of marijuana and fly them back to the United States. The marijuana would be dropped to waiting accomplices while the plane was airborne, a practice referred to by the parties as kicking, or it would be unloaded after landing at remote, sometimes homemade, airstrips in Florida and Alabama. 3 The smuggling ring was organized and managed by Glen Munro, a conspirator who was convicted for his drug smuggling activities in a separate proceeding and is serving a sentence. By his own estimates he had personally made about seven million dollars from his smuggling operations. Munro established a relationship with Johnny Crawford as a source for marijuana. Crawford was living in Belize and, in addition to securing marijuana, he operated a runway and marijuana loading operation there. Munro and his partners recruited pilots and organized their flights, arranged landing sites and recruited individuals to retrieve kicked bundles of marijuana or to unload airplanes that had landed at remote airstrips. The marijuana was sold for further distribution. From the revenue generated by these sales the conspiracy's ringleaders would pay their expenses and their helpers and keep the resulting profit. 4 The appellants in this case are each participants in this highly organized drug smuggling operation. Appellant Joe Jones owned farm land on which a homemade airstrip was constructed for the planes to land and unload their illegal cargo. Jones and appellant Philip Cohron were implicated in securing airstrips. Cohron and appellant Buddy Davis were implicated as members of the operation's ground crew who retrieved kicks and unloaded planes. Appellant Otto Runkel was involved as a pilot for one aborted smuggling trip to Belize, and appellant James Adams was his co-pilot and helper for this trip. 5 Fourteen defendants, including the five defendants who bring this appeal, were indicted in a four-count sealed indictment. Count 1 of the indictment charged a conspiracy to knowingly and intentionally import 1000 or more kilograms of marijuana into the United States. Count 2 charged a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1000 or more kilograms of marijuana. Counts 3 and 4 respectively charged each defendant with the substantive crimes of importing and possessing with intent to distribute 1000 or more kilograms of marijuana. In addition to the fourteen defendants, the indictment listed nine other co-conspirators who were not charged therein, as well as others known and unknown. All the defendants initially pleaded not guilty. 6 James Adams filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on double jeopardy grounds arguing that he and co-defendant Otto Runkel had been prosecuted for crimes arising from the same facts at issue here in a prior proceeding in the Southern District of Florida. Runkel joined in Adams' motion, which was denied. Adams filed an interlocutory appeal of the trial court's denial of his double jeopardy motion, No. 91-3356, and that appeal has been consolidated with the present one. Subsequently, Runkel withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered one of guilty to all four counts, but he reserved his right to appeal the court's ruling on his double jeopardy motion. Runkel's appeal of the denial of the double jeopardy motion, No. 91-3680, is also consolidated with the main appeal by the other defendants, No. 91-3691. All of the defendants, other than Runkel, maintained their pleas of not guilty. After a lengthy trial where many co-conspirators testified against the defendants, each remaining defendant was convicted on all four counts. The defendants were sentenced and they are all presently incarcerated, with the exception of James Adams. Adams, Cohron, Davis, Jones, and Runkel appeal various aspects of their convictions and sentences.