Singleton v. United States

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Singleton v. United States. Read the opinion of the Court — 26 F.3d 233
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit·Decided June 10, 1994·No. 92-1647·Published

Opinion

USCA1 Opinion


UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

____________________

No. 92-1647

JAMES SINGLETON,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Defendant, Appellee.

____________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Jos Antonio Fust , U.S. District Judge]
___________________

____________________

Before

Selya, Cyr and Boudin,

Circuit Judges.
______________

____________________

Richard J. Shea for appellant.
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Carlos A. P rez, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom
________________
Daniel F. Lopez-Romo, United States Attorney, and Jos A. Quiles-
_____________________ ________________
Espinosa, Senior Litigation Counsel, were on brief for appellee.
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____________________

June 10, 1994
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CYR, Circuit Judge. Petitioner James Singleton appeals
CYR, Circuit Judge.
_____________

from a district court order dismissing his motion for post-

conviction relief, see 28 U.S.C. 2255, from a judgment of
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conviction for possessing marijuana, with intent to distribute,

in violation of the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA).1

See 18 U.S.C. 2; 46 U.S.C. App. 1903(a), (c), (f). Along
___

with a surfeit of lesser grounds, we must assess whether Single-

ton was denied effective assistance, see Strickland v. Washing-
___ __________ ________

ton, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), based on trial counsel's failure to
___

object to a jury instruction which effectively directed a verdict

on an essential element of the crime charged. We affirm the

district court judgment.

I
I

BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
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Shortly after midnight on January 5, 1988, the United

States Coast Guard Cutter DAUNTLESS made radar contact with a

vessel approaching on the high seas from the direction of Haiti.

Suspecting that the vessel might contain illegal Haitian

immigrants, the DAUNTLESS attempted to establish radio communica-

tion, but to no avail. Shortly thereafter, Coast Guard Ensign

Pulver approached to within thirty yards of the unidentified

vessel in a boarding craft, and noted the name MARILYN E and the

____________________

1Singleton's conviction was upheld on direct appeal in
United States v. Doe, 921 F.2d 340 (1st Cir. 1990).
_____________ ___

letters "KA" and "JN" on the stern but no home port designation

or flag. Pulver made voice contact with a person aboard the

MARILYN E who explained that the vessel was en route from King-

ston Bay, Jamaica, and bound for Kaison Bank, in the Bahamas, to

fish. Ensign Pulver obtained consent to board the

MARILYN E from codefendant Willey Gordon, the master. Pulver and

the boarding crew found Gordon, Singleton and four others on

board the MARILYN E. The MARILYN E was leaky and in serious

disrepair. The scant fishing gear on board was inoperable and

the vessel was not provisioned for an extended voyage.

Shortly after boarding, Pulver asked the master for the

certificate of documentation. Gordon asserted that though the

MARILYN E was of Jamaican registry, she was carrying no documen-

tation. At that point, codefendant Earl McLeish volunteered that

he knew where the documentation papers were kept, and soon

produced a Coast Guard "bill of sale" form and an expired United

States Certificate of Documentation.2 Asked what was in the

hold, Gordon responded that it contained ice. Whereupon Pulver

requested and received permission to open the hold, which was

____________________

2Though both documents suggested United States registry,
neither the bill of sale nor the expired certificate of documen-
tation constituted proper documentation of registry. The bill of
sale memorialized a 1986 sale of the MARILYN E by one Clyde
Randolph Eubanks to one Hubert Henderson, and was acknowledged in
Cateret County, North Carolina. The certificate of documentation
was registered to Eubanks but had expired more than one and one-
half years earlier.

3

foundtocontainbalesofmarijuanaweighingapproximately3,750 pounds.3

Ensign Pulver requested authorization from the Command-

er of the DAUNTLESS to arrest the captain and crew of the MARILYN

E. But because the procedures to be followed in arresting the

crew, and seizing the vessel, would depend on the nationality of

the MARILYN E, Pulver continued to question Gordon. Asked

whether there were any flags aboard the MARILYN E, Gordon at

first said there were none, but then corrected himself by saying

he believed there was one flag forward. Upon overhearing Ensign

Pulver's question to Gordon, Singleton located a United States

flag and a plain yellow quarantine flag in the fore of the

vessel.4 Thus, it remained unclear whether the MARILYN E was a

United States vessel, as the United States flag and the dated

documentation papers suggested, a Jamaican vessel, as Gordon

claimed, or a stateless vessel.

In order to ensure the legality of the ensuing arrests

and seizure, Ensign Pulver initiated a formal request to obtain

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