Background
In March 2021, a United States Marine Patrol Aircraft spotted a go-fast vessel in international waters carrying approximately 674 kilograms of cocaine. The vessel had Ecuadorian registration documents, but Ecuador could neither confirm nor deny the vessel’s nationality. The three defendants were arrested, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, and were sentenced.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed subject matter jurisdiction de novo and found that the vessel qualified as one without nationality under the statute because the claimed nation did not affirmatively assert the vessel’s nationality. The court applied prior panel precedent to reject constitutional challenges regarding the Felonies Clause. Regarding the sentence, the court found no abuse of discretion because the district court reasonably weighed the defendant’s criminal history and mitigating circumstances, and the sentence fell at the bottom of the Guidelines range.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces the Eleventh Circuit’s interpretation of the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act regarding vessels without nationality and limits the ability to challenge prior panel precedent on constitutional grounds.
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