Opinion ID: 4503119
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Helicopter Chase

Text: At 9:34 p.m., the Hamilton helicopter launched. At 9:45 p.m., the helicopter located the 30-to-35-foot GFV with two outboard engines that was carrying three individuals. The GFV appeared to be “dead-in-water” but started moving again.5 The helicopter moved alongside the GFV. At this point, the GFV and the helicopter still were approximately 200 to 250 nautical miles from the coast of Central America. The CIC on the Hamilton cutter eventually picked up the GFV on its FLIR and other radar systems and continuously monitored it. While pursuing the GFV, the Hamilton helicopter crew obtained a statement of no objection from Coast Guard headquarters, entitling it to request that the vessel stop and to fire warning and disabling shots if necessary. The helicopter crew broadcasted orders in English and Spanish for the GFV to stop, ordered the passengers to put their hands up and move to the front of the vessel, and flashed its blue law enforcement lights and Coast Guard emblem. The GFV disregarded the instructions and continued moving in an evasive, zig-zag path. This prompted the helicopter crew to continue its chase and to fire three rounds of warning shots. 5 “Dead-in-water” means that the vessel has stopped and is motionless in the water. 5 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 6 of 97 Every fifth round that the helicopter crew fired contained a “tracer round,” a large and easily-visible red glow that detached from the projectile before entering the water. The GFV continued to disobey the orders. As the helicopter continued to chase the GFV, its crew saw the GFV’s passengers jettisoning packages overboard. One package remained attached to the vessel and dragged behind in the water. The helicopter crew marked the location where the packages were jettisoned with chemical lights and relayed the coordinate positions to the Hamilton cutter. The helicopter FLIR video showed that the GFV’s left side engine was cooler than the right side engine. The GFV slowed down and came to a stop, at which point the passengers appeared to crank the engines to restart them. The GFV began moving again. Because the GFV passengers were next to the vessel’s engines, the helicopter crew fired two rounds of warning shots near the aft of the GFV to get them to move toward the front of the vessel. The passengers complied, but the helicopter crew was unable to fire disabling shots at the GFV’s engines without endangering the passengers. At this point, the helicopter was running low on fuel, so it communicated to the Hamilton cutter the GFV’s last-known coordinate position and headed back to the cutter to refuel. Around 11:00 p.m., the helicopter crew lost its visual of the GFV and landed back at the Hamilton cutter at 11:05 p.m. C. OTH and LRI Vessel Searches and Recovery of a Cocaine Bale 6 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 7 of 97 Around 10:00 p.m., the OTH vessel launched. After the helicopter headed back to the Hamilton cutter, the OTH vessel spent 20 to 30 minutes searching the area that the helicopter crew indicated was the last known coordinate location of the GFV but was unsuccessful. The Hamilton cutter instructed the OTH crew to suspend its search for the GFV and instead head to the scene of the jettisoned packages. The OTH crew found the chemical lights left by the helicopter crew and searched the area but found no packages. Approximately 31 minutes after the helicopter crew lost its visual of the GFV, the Hamilton cutter reacquired the GFV’s location using its CIC’s FLIR and other radar systems. The Hamilton cutter crew observed on the CIC’s FLIR system that the GFV was dead-in-water and that one of the passengers was flailing and frantically trying to fix the engine. The cutter crew informed the OTH crew that it had reacquired sight of the GFV and redirected the OTH vessel to that coordinate position. While en route to the specified location, the OTH crew recovered a 20-kilogram cocaine bale floating in the water along with a buoy tied to a black line. The OTH crew relayed to the Hamilton cutter the coordinate location of the recovered cocaine bale and continued its search for the GFV. While the OTH crew was recovering the bale, the LRI vessel launched around 11:33 to 11:43 p.m. Soon thereafter, the Hamilton cutter instructed the OTH crew to resume its search for the jettisoned packages because the LRI vessel 7 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 8 of 97 had reached the GFV and was preparing to approach. The Hamilton cutter crew observed the LRI’s approach of the GFV on the CIC’s FLIR system. Meanwhile, the OTH crew searched for about two hours but recovered no additional bales. Samples of the recovered bale’s contents, which consisted of 20 individually wrapped 1-kilogram packages, field-tested positive for cocaine. D. LRI Crew’s Boarding and Search of the GFV The LRI vessel approached a dead-in-water GFV that had two outboard engines and three passengers. The GFV, which had no navigation lights, was in international waters, 200-plus miles away from the closest land mass. The LRI vessel illuminated its blue law enforcement light and announced over a loud hailer in English and Spanish, “United States Coast Guard, put your hands in the air and move towards the front of the vessel.” The GFV’s passengers complied with these orders. After receiving permission for right-of-visit boarding, a boarding team from the LRI vessel then boarded the GFV. While conducting an initial safety sweep, the LRI boarding team members observed that much of the GFV had been wiped down with fuel. The LRI boarding team, which included a Spanish translator, began asking right-of-visit questions to determine the nationality of the vessel. The team noticed the vessel was not flying any flag and had no other indicia of nationality. The team 8 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 9 of 97 twice asked the GFV’s passengers if anyone wished to make a claim of nationality for the vessel. The passengers—Cabezas-Montano, Guagua-Alarcon, and Palacios-Solis—did not respond either time. When asked to identify the master of the vessel, the defendants did not respond. When asked a second time, GuaguaAlarcon and Palacios-Solis pointed to Cabezas-Montano, who in turn pointed to Palacios-Solis. The boarding team asked Cabezas-Montano and Palacios-Solis if either of them was the master, but they did not answer and continued to point at each other. The LRI boarding team concluded that there was no claim of nationality for the vessel and that no one claimed to be the master. When asked about the GFV’s last port of call, Palacios-Solis stated that it was Manta, Ecuador. According to one LRI boarding team member, without a claim of nationality for the vessel or a master to take the claim from, the Coast Guard “take[s] the last port of call as the nationality of the vessel.” The boarding team also observed an Ecuadorian maker’s mark on the back of the GFV indicating that the vessel was manufactured in Ecuador. When asked about the date of last port of call, Palacios-Solis stated that he and the other two defendants had gone fishing but ended up lost at sea for 32 days. The team observed, however, that the defendants did not seem happy to see Coast Guard personnel and declined the Coast Guard’s offer of food and water. The LRI boarding team conveyed to the Hamilton cutter that the GFV bore 9 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 10 of 97 an Ecuadorian maker’s mark and that its last port of call was in Ecuador. The Hamilton cutter contacted Ecuador to obtain a statement of no objection to permit the U.S. Coast Guard to conduct a full law enforcement boarding. According to the Coast Guard personnel’s testimony, a foreign government, in response to the Coast Guard’s request for a statement-of-no-objection, could claim the vessel and deny boarding, make no claim, or claim the vessel and permit boarding. Here, Ecuador provided its statement of no objection to a Coast Guard Flag Officer early on the morning of October 25. The LRI boarding team detained the defendants, placed them on the LRI vessel, and began its full boarding onto the GFV. The LRI boarding team swabbed the GFV’s surfaces that were not saturated with fuel and the defendants’ hands for trace quantities of drugs. The defendants appeared visibly concerned when the swabbing began. Ultimately, the Coast Guard found trace amounts of drugs: (1) one defendant tested positive for trace amounts of cocaine and PCP; and (2) trace amounts of cocaine were detected on the GFV’s bow and tiller. The LRI boarding team also conducted a full search of the GFV. The team found: (1) a buoy and black line similar in appearance to the buoy and black line that were recovered where the jettisoned cocaine bale was found; (2) the same brown packing tape that was wrapped around the recovered bale; (3) eleven 25gallon fuel drums, most of which were full; (4) a phone charger; (5) a satellite 10 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 11 of 97 phone battery; (6) a document containing satellite phone numbers; and (7) a document containing coordinates. Although no phones were on board, a team member testified that drug smugglers in GFVs sometimes throw their electronic equipment overboard to prevent the Coast Guard from recovering stored data. The team observed a wet shirt covering the left engine, which lessened the engine’s heat signature and made detection more difficult. As to the defendants’ fishing trip story, the LRI boarding team found fishing hooks and knives but did not find any bait, fish, or remnants of fish. The team found lines, but they appeared to be unserviceable and not usable for fishing. The team also found large quantities of water and sports drinks, as well as fresh fruit and food items that did not appear to be 32 days old. The bottom of the GFV appeared extremely clean and free from growth, which was an unusual state for a vessel that was allegedly adrift at sea for 32 days. After being onboard for 12 hours, the LRI crew left the GFV and sank the vessel because it was a navigation hazard. The LRI vessel headed back to the Hamilton cutter, where the defendants were taken for processing. E. Coast Guard’s Recovery of 24 More Cocaine Bales After conducting a drift analysis based on factors such as current and wind movement to determine where to search for the jettisoned packages, the OTH vessel dispatched in the daytime, responded to the designated area, and recovered 11 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 12 of 97 24 additional bales along with buoys equipped with GPS trackers. The 25 total recovered bales collectively weighed 614 kilograms. Lab testing, based on a representative 10-kilogram sample, confirmed that the substance in the recovered bales was cocaine. The tested sample had an estimated purity level of 86 and 89 percent, which was very high and indicated that the drugs were close to their original source. The cocaine bales’ total wholesale value was over $10 million. The Coast Guard also found GPS trackers attached to some of the cocaine bales themselves, which charted their movement as follows. Three trackers launched between October 15 and 16, 2016, some from the coast of Esmeraldas, Ecuador and others from the coast of the Ecuadorian and Colombian border. All three trackers converged when they traveled within the coastal region of Ecuador. Next, the trackers moved away from the coast of Ecuador, northwest towards the Galapagos Islands. The trackers then changed course and moved northeast towards the coast of the Guatemalan and El Salvadorian border. However, the GPS trackers suddenly stopped moving and then started drifting slowly in a south or southeast direction—indicating that the trackers were no longer on a vessel—in the area where the Coast Guard found them on October 24 and 25. The GPS trackers’ trajectories were consistent with the Hamilton cutter’s and helicopter’s coordinate range data for the target GFV and the document containing coordinates found on the defendants’ vessel. Four Coast Guard personnel testified that they 12 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 13 of 97 neither saw nor heard any other vessels in the vicinity during the entirety of the interdiction. F. Defendants’ Version of Events The defendants told a different story. According to Palacios-Solis’s testimony at trial, he and his codefendants departed from the Esmeraldas, Ecuador, port for a short, four-day fishing trip on the boat. Palacios-Solis testified that the boat, of which he was the captain, was a typical Ecuadorian fishing boat. PalaciosSolis claimed that, while he initially lied to the Coast Guard about not being the captain, he admitted to his role once he arrived in Florida. The defendants quickly returned to the Esmeraldas port because the boat’s engines were not working well. They had a mechanic fix the engine, but Palacios-Solis forgot to change the oil after the engine was fixed. They again set out for their fishing trip. On the second day of their fishing trip, once they were approximately 150 to 200 miles from the Esmeraldas, the engines failed and Palacios-Solis was not able to repair them. They assumed that another fishing boat would come along and help them, but none did and they were left adrift for 27 to 30 days. According to Palacios-Solis’s testimony, he intentionally covered the engines to protect them from pirates. The documents discovered during the search of the GFV were left by previous users and Palacios-Solis denied any knowledge 13 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 14 of 97 of their contents. He testified that the lines on the vessel were for fishing and that they were rendered unusable by the Coast Guard personnel during their search. He conceded that the buoy and black line found in the water looked just like the buoy and black line found on the vessel, which were his. The brown packing tape on the vessel, however, was not his and Palacios-Solis denied knowing where it came from. Palacios-Solis testified that the food was 30 days old and was not fresh and that there was not much food left over by the time the Coast Guard arrived. The defendants were asleep when the Coast Guard approached their boat, they were confused by the lights and yelling, and they were scared that the Coast Guard personnel were going to kill them. Throughout trial, the government’s witnesses testified as to the coordinate locations of the critical points during the interdiction of the GFV and of the recovered cocaine bales. In their case, however, the defendants called a maritime expert who created a model pointing out discrepancies in the government’s plotted coordinates. Nonetheless, on cross-examination, the maritime expert conceded that at least some portions of his method and model were erroneous, incomplete, and/or misleading. Notably too, a Coast Guard maritime expert, who conducted a drift analysis, testified that the defendants’ story about being adrift for about 30 days was physically impossible given the claimed starting point of the fishing trip, the 14 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 15 of 97 weather and currents, and the coordinate location of the interdiction. The Coast Guard expert disagreed with the accuracy of the defense expert’s model. The Coast Guard expert testified that the southward location, where the Hamilton crew searched for and recovered the bales, was consistent with information regarding the direction of the GFV. A Coast Guard health services technician also testified that she observed and examined the defendants once they were detained and brought aboard the Hamilton cutter on October 25. The health services technician testified the defendants did not require any medical intervention and exhibited no signs of malnourishment, dehydration, malnutrition, lethargy, or extended exposure to the elements.