Opinion ID: 426379
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Indictment and the Ensuing Proceedings

Text: 11 Each member of the RICARDO's crew was charged in a two-count indictment with violating 21 U.S.C. Sec. 955a(a) and with conspiring to violate that provision, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 955c. Section 955a(a) makes it unlawful for any person on board a ... vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States on the high seas to possess a controlled substance with the intent to manufacture or distribute it. In 21 U.S.C. Sec. 955b(d), vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States is defined to include[ ] a vessel without nationality or a vessel assimilated to a vessel without nationality, in accordance with paragraph (2) of article 6 of the Convention on the High Seas, 1958. Article 6 of the Convention on the High Seas, opened for signature April 29, 1958, 13 U.S.T. 2312, T.I.A.S. No. 5200 (Convention on the High Seas), provides as follows: 12 Article 6: 1. Ships shall sail under the flag of one State only and, save in exceptional cases expressly provided for in international treaties or in these articles, shall be subject to its exclusive jurisdiction on the high seas. A ship may not change its flag during a voyage or while in a port of call, save in the case of a real transfer of ownership or change of registry. 13 2. A ship which sails under the flags of two or more States, using them according to convenience, may not claim any of the nationalities in question with respect to any other State, and may be assimilated to a ship without nationality. 14 Eight defendants promptly moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the RICARDO was not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. All defendants moved to suppress, inter alia, the marijuana seized from the RICARDO on the ground that the Coast Guard's boarding, search, and seizure had violated their Fourth Amendment rights.
15 Prior to holding an evidentiary hearing, the district court, after hearing argument and considering the above events as described in the parties' papers, denied defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court found that (1) when first observed by the Coast Guard, the RICARDO was flying no flag and was headed toward the United States mainland; (2) the RICARDO changed course away from the mainland and hoisted a Venezuelan flag as the DUANE neared; (3) the RICARDO was found to be carrying flags of several other states; and (4) although the RICARDO claimed Venezuelan nationality, its registration with that country had expired more than two years before the seizure occurred. On the basis of these findings, the court ruled that the RICARDO was a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because at the very least, ... when seized, [it] was a vessel 'assimilated to a stateless vessel,' and at best, ... was a vessel without nationality. (Sept. 30, 1982 Transcript (9/30 Tr.) at 30.) 16 For its finding that the RICARDO's registration had expired, the court initially relied on the government's assertion in its brief that it had obtained a certificate from the Venezuelan Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Bureau of Maritime Transportation and Traffic (the Certificate), stating that the RICARDO had been registered in Venezuela, but that the registration had expired as of May 21, 1980, and no record of a renewal or reinstatement could be found. Some weeks later, at the evidentiary hearing on defendants' motions to suppress, the government offered in evidence the Venezuelan Certificate itself. The Certificate, which is set out in full in the margin, 5 stated in part that the RICARDO had been registered in Venezuela; that it had evidently sailed clandestinely from a Venezuelan port and had last been heard from on May 21, 1979; and that failing to have any further news from it since that date, May 21, 1979, the Maritime Authority has found grounds for the expiration of its registration.... The Certificate concluded as follows: 17 Therefore, the motor boat Ricardo, originally registered in the Harbor Master's Office of Las Piedras, in view of the expiration of its registration, as of May 21, 1980, could not invoke the Venezuelan nationality to protect its status under any circumstance, particularly in situations involving a crime or infraction. 18 Reinstatement to its status of Venezuelan vessel after the said date (May 21, 1980) would have required the renewal of its documents, after justifying its absence and receiving a favorable decision from the Venezuelan authorities, something that did not ever take place. 19 Defendants objected to the introduction of the Certificate under Fed.R.Evid. 803(10), which permits receipt of an appropriate certification of the absence of a public record; their argument was cut short, however, by the government's disclaimer of reliance on Rule 803(10) and its invocation instead of Rule 803(8), which governs existing public records. The court agreed that the Certificate did not show an absence of a record, and it admitted the document into evidence over defendants' objections that admission was not authorized by Rule 803(8) and would violate their rights of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. 20 In a ruling announced on October 20, 1982, the court stated that it had considered the Venezuelan Certificate and confirmed its September 30, 1982 finding that the RICARDO was a stateless vessel at the time of its seizure. Accordingly, the court adhered to its decision denying defendants' motion to dismiss the indictment for lack of jurisdiction.
21 Following the evidentiary hearing, the district court denied defendants' motions to suppress the marijuana seized from the RICARDO. The court ruled that, in all the circumstances set forth above, the Coast Guard's stopping, boarding, and search of the RICARDO were based upon a reasonable suspicion that the vessel was engaged in narcotics smuggling. In addition, the court held that defendants had voluntarily consented to the stopping, boarding, and search.
22 Following these rulings, each defendant entered a conditional plea of guilty to one count of violation of Sec. 955a(a), and the government agreed to the dismissal of the conspiracy count. With the approval of the court, the parties stipulated that defendants reserved their right to appeal the lawfulness of the Coast Guard's seizure of the marijuana.II. ISSUES PRESERVED FOR APPEAL 23 On this appeal defendants pursue their contentions that the United States lacks jurisdiction to prosecute them and that the actions of the Coast Guard violated their Fourth Amendment rights. 6 The stipulation pursuant to which the pleas of guilty were entered conditioned those pleas on defendants' being permitted to reserve and raise only the following issue on appeal from the judgment herein, i.e. the lawfulness of the Coast Guard's seizure of approximately 20 tons of marijuana from the hold of the 'Ricardo' on June 27, 1982. The narrowness of this stipulation creates questions as to whether defendants are entitled to pursue their jurisdictional and constitutional challenges on appeal. A. The Jurisdictional Question 24 In its brief, the government has suggested that defendants' challenge to the jurisdiction of the United States to prosecute them is improper because it is beyond the issue of seizure preserved by the stipulation. We reject the government's suggestion. 25 A question as to the court's jurisdiction to try a defendant may be raised at any time during the pendency of the proceedings. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b). Accordingly, in ruling in particular cases that a defendant who has pleaded guilty has waived his right to appeal or that his conditional plea has preserved only the specifically mentioned issues and waived all others, we have taken care to specify that the waiver applies only to defects that are non-jurisdictional. E.g., United States v. Doyle, 348 F.2d 715, 718-19 (2d Cir.) (quoting United States v. Spada, 331 F.2d 995, 996 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 865, 85 S.Ct. 130, 13 L.Ed.2d 67 (1964)), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 843, 86 S.Ct. 89, 15 L.Ed.2d 84 (1965). Since it is a responsibility of the appellate court no less than of the trial court to see to it that the jurisdiction of the trial court, which is defined and limited by statute, is not exceeded, Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149, 152, 29 S.Ct. 42, 43, 53 L.Ed. 126 (1908), and since the stipulation is construed infra to preserve issues of fact and law arising from the stopping and boarding of the RICARDO as well as the seizure of marijuana, we will entertain on appeal defendants challenge to the court's jurisdiction. B. The Constitutional Issues 26 Notwithstanding the stipulation's preservation of the right to appeal only the lawfulness of the Coast Guard's seizure of the marijuana from the hold of the RICARDO, defendants have proceeded to challenge the lawfulness not only of the seizure itself but also of the Coast Guard's stopping and boarding of the vessel. The government properly notes that the defendants have no Fourth Amendment right to challenge only the seizure. As crew members of the RICARDO having no proprietary interest in the vessel's cargo and having no legitimate expectation of privacy in its cargo hold, defendants have no personal rights to vindicate in challenging the Coast Guard's search of the cargo hold or the seizure of the marijuana, and such a challenge would be rejected on that ground. See United States v. Salvucci, 448 U.S. 83, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1980); Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978); United States v. Streifel, 665 F.2d 414, 419 n. 6 (2d Cir.1981); United States v. Williams, 589 F.2d 210, 214 (5th Cir.1979). 27 The government has not, however, disputed as unauthorized by the stipulation defendants' appeal from the district court's rulings upholding the Coast Guard's stopping and boarding of the RICARDO. In the circumstances, we shall, on this occasion, give the parties to the stipulation the benefit of the doubt and infer that they and the court understood that defendants were to preserve their right to challenge such actions leading to the seizure as they had the right to challenge, i.e., the Coast Guard's stopping and boarding of the RICARDO. 7 In the future, however, we shall expect the parties to use care and precision in framing the issues to be preserved for appeal.