Pubdate: Sun, 06 May 2007 Source: Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL) Copyright: 2007 The Ledger Contact: http://www.theledger.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/795 Author: Lonnie Brown COCAINE BOAT WAS FAST, SO WAS JURY When we left this space last week, five defendants from Mexico were seated in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzaras in Tampa, charged with the crimes of possessing large amounts of cocaine and conspiring to sell and distribute it. I am in attendance on this Monday (two weeks ago tomorrow) not as a reporter covering the courts, but because I was a potential juror. Now excused, I'm curious to see what was going to go on inside the courtroom on the 15th floor of the Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse for the Middle District of Florida. To sum up from opening arguments: In July 2006, the U.S. Coast Guard, after considerable chasing, warning and firing from an armed helicopter, had disabled the four powerful outboard motors on a "go- fast boat" far off the coast of Mexico. There were 10 people, all from Mexico, onboard the boat, which carried no name, flag or markings. One of the men had lit a fire on the boat before jumping into the water and heading for a makeshift raft holding the nine other men. The Coast Guard cutter put out the flames, and preserved several hundred pounds of cocaine as evidence. Five of the crew were turned over to Mexican authorities for prosecution. Five others were brought to the United States. Each was represented by separate counsel. Their defense: None of the five men knew the boat was carrying cocaine. They had no idea what was contained in the bales on board the boat. Over the next few days, the 12 jurors and three alternates would hear the evidence and defense. They would see videotapes of the boat being stopped by a Coast Guard helicopter after the crew ignored verbal and visual warnings, as well as gunfire across the bow. Only after the fourth engine was disabled by the helicopter's gunner did the boat stop. Evidently, the "we knew nothing" defense wasn't all that convincing. "All defendants were convicted on both counts [possession and conspiracy to sell]," the spokesman for the U.S. District Attorney's Office told me last week. "They're looking at 10 years to life in prison." Sentencing will come in about three months. Why were some defendants turned over to Mexican authorities while others were brought to the United States? "It's the way things happen sometimes," said the spokesman. "It's not uncommon. A few months ago, there were 13 Panamanians arrested in a smuggling operation. Of those, three were turned over to the government of Panama for prosecution and 10 were detained by the United States." The decision on who goes where is made by the officials on the scene based on which detainee was doing what at the time of the interdiction. One might think that a trial involving several hundreds of pounds of cocaine worth several millions of dollars might attract several reporters to the courtroom. Not any more. The trial didn't receive a word of press coverage. Maybe it's partly because many of the reporters have all turned into bloggers who are writing about go-fast boats instead. No, really. This from the Web: "To all you boat photographers out there: send me your pix of go-fast boats. I am specifically interested in receiving photos of go-fast boats in the areas of Haiti, Columbia, and also Somalia. Please provide as much accompanying information as possible, especially about location, date, time, and the context of the photo. I'd like to do a little photo essay, but I need your help!" Surely go-fast boats are more interesting than writing about the end results of what happens when they don't go fast enough to outrun the Coast Guard. Then again, several hundreds of pounds of cocaine - which used to be a big blip on anyone's radar screen - hardly generates a pinpoint of light any more. On the same day this trial began, the U.S. Coast Guard Coast was unloading more than 40,000 pounds of cocaine seized from three ships off the Central American coast. One ship, boarded off the Pacific coast of Panama, had about 38,000 pounds in two shipping containers. It was the largest single sea-based cocaine seizure by any U.S. agency, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The jury selection for the Tampa trial started on Monday morning. By early Monday afternoon, the jurors had been sworn in and opening arguments were given. The trial lasted until Wednesday afternoon, when jury deliberations began. On Thursday morning, the verdict of guilty had been returned after a total of about three hours of deliberation. Go-fast boat: 0; armed U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, 1. Lonnie Brown is The Ledger's associate editor. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek