Opinion ID: 2676152
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Bowleg’s Version of Events on May 5-6, 2012

Text: At trial, Bowleg testified that he was born in the Bahamas, lived in the United States for an indeterminate amount of time during his childhood, and at some point, returned to the Bahamas. Around 2012, Bowleg decided to reenter the United States. Bowleg paid an individual named Chris $500 to arrange his transport to the United States. Chris gave Bowleg a discounted price for the trip because Bowleg used to clean Chris’s boat. On May 5, 2012, Bowleg arrived at a beach by himself and boarded a boat driven by Pratt, who Bowleg had known since childhood. Bowleg did not know that Pratt was the captain of the boat that would take Bowleg to the United States until May 5, when Bowleg recognized Pratt as the boat’s captain. Bowleg and Pratt cruised around the water for thirty minutes before returning to the beach. Thirteen aliens arrived at the beach, and they boarded the boat without assistance. Bowleg knew that everyone on the boat was attempting to enter the United States illegally because “if they had papers, they wouldn’t be on that boat; they would be on a commercial airline or a commercial boat or something.” While traveling, everyone on the boat, including Bowleg, used the binoculars on board to look at the large cruise ships passing the motorboat. 7 Case: 12-15797 Date Filed: 05/28/2014 Page: 8 of 36 Bowleg also held the wheel of the motorboat whenever Pratt had to relieve himself off of the side of the boat, which happened three or four times. Bowleg, however, did not use the GPS-device to navigate the boat to a specific destination. At one point during the journey, the boat stopped because it ran out of fuel. Bowleg did not assist in refueling the boat, but he did assist in restarting the boat’s engine by pouring oil into a container for the purposes of restarting the engine. Bowleg testified that his first statement to agents—that he was a passenger on the boat and paid $500 to Chris for transportation to the United States—was the truth. After making this first statement, Bowleg felt intimidated by the agents and told them that he wanted to call his family. One of the agents told Bowleg that he had to “tell [the agent] something he want[s] to hear” before Bowleg could call his family. The agents also told Bowleg that he was “getting five years.” Bowleg then decided to give the agent a false statement so the agent would allow Bowleg to call his family. After Bowleg made the second, false statement, the agent allowed Bowleg to call his family. Bowleg testified that he texted Pinke on May 5, 2012, and told her that he would see her “Tomorrow” (May 6, 2012). Bowleg testified that he had lied to Pinke: Bowleg knew that, on May 6, he would be in the United States and Pinke would be in the Bahamas. Bowleg lied to Pinke because they were “having bad times,” and she had cheated on him. 8 Case: 12-15797 Date Filed: 05/28/2014 Page: 9 of 36