United States v. Luis Enrique Gonzalez

875 F.2d 875, 277 U.S. App. D.C. 318, 1990 A.M.C. 271, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 6599, 1989 WL 49650
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMay 16, 1989
Docket88-3092
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 875 F.2d 875 (United States v. Luis Enrique Gonzalez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Luis Enrique Gonzalez, 875 F.2d 875, 277 U.S. App. D.C. 318, 1990 A.M.C. 271, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 6599, 1989 WL 49650 (D.C. Cir. 1989).

Opinions

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge STEPHEN F. WILLIAMS.

Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge MIKVA.

STEPHEN F. WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge:

Luis Enrique Gonzalez appeals from his conviction for possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. Gonzalez was arrested by customs agents who stopped The Michel, a boat which he captained, while it cruised in international waters. Gonzalez contends that the stop of his vessel was illegal because the Customs Service lacked statutory authority to stop vessels on the high seas. He also claims that the Fourth Amendment requires suppression of the cocaine seized during a warrantless search of The Michel because the customs agents lacked probable cause to stop or search the vessel.

We agree with the district court that the search of Gonzalez’s vessel was conducted with his consent and thus did not violate the Fourth Amendment. We find the issue of the Customs Service’s authority to stop a vessel in international waters more problematic. The government argues that several statutory provisions provide the Service with jurisdiction to act on the high seas. After assessing these provisions, we conclude that the only statutory basis for the stop is 19 U.S.C. § 1587(a), authorizing Customs to stop and board “hovering vessels” as defined by 19 U.S.C. § 1401(k), wherever located. We remand the ease to the district court, accordingly, so that it [877]*877can determine whether Gonzalez’s boat was indeed a hovering vessel.

On August 15, 1987 a Customs Service vessel was patrolling the international waters off the Bahamas. An officer using binoculars, Warren Parks, noticed The Michel, an unusual lobster vessel with a registration number that indicated its home port was Miami. It was atypical for several reasons. There were structural alterations that tended to prevent it from serving as a commercial fishing vessel and that gave it the appearance of a sport fishing vessel, yet other characteristics (its being a “flat bottom single engine diesel type boat”) made it too slow for either purpose. Its course was one used frequently for drug trafficking. See Testimony of Warren Parks, Appendix of Appellant 17-18.

The customs officers decided to investigate; they used a flashing blue strobe light to signal The Michel’s crew to stop. As the government boat maneuvered alongside, Parks identified himself to Gonzalez and inquired about the origin, destination and purpose of Gonzalez’s trip. The defendant answered in some detail, stating that the boat was being used for fishing and gambling.

During further questioning, however, Gonzalez aroused Parks’s suspicions. He was unable to identify The Michel’s owner, and he claimed not to remember from whom he borrowed the boat or whether the registration papers were on board. While Gonzalez said that four people had been on the boat for much of its trip, The Michel did not have bunks for four. Gonzalez identified the boat’s destination as the Rusty Pelican Marina in Miami, which Parks knew of as the home base for many vessels with hidden compartments and the site of several seizures of contraband.

At this point, Parks requested permission to board The Michel; Gonzalez told him, “[T]hat is no problem, come on board.” United States v. Gonzalez, 688 F.Supp. 658, 660 (D.D.C.1988). During his search, Parks discovered cocaine in a hidden compartment in the fiberglass hull of the vessel. After Parks arrested him, Gonzalez spontaneously made several incriminating statements.

The defendant was indicted for possession of five kilograms of cocaine with the intent to distribute it, in violation of 46 U.S.C.App. §§ 1903(a) and (g). The district court denied both his motion to suppress his incriminating statements and the cocaine seized from The Michel and his motion to dismiss the indictment. Gonzalez, 688 F.Supp. at 667. Gonzalez entered a plea of guilty but preserved his right to maintain this appeal.

The Jurisdiction of the Customs Service on the High Seas

When the Customs Service successfully stopped The Michel by means of a flashing strobe light, it conducted a seizure that triggered the protections of the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Gollwitzer, 697 F.2d 1357, 1360 (11th Cir.1983) (determining whether a stop by the Customs Service was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment); cf. Brower v. County of Inyo, — U.S. -, -, 109 S.Ct. 1378, 1381, 103 L.Ed.2d 628 (1989) (seizure occurred when a car was stopped by police roadblock); United States v. Morrison, 546 F.2d 319, 320 (9th Cir.1976) (use of siren or flashing light to stop motorist constitutes a seizure).

Gonzalez argues that in United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606, 97 S.Ct. 1972, 52 L.Ed.2d 617 (1977), the Supreme Court formulated a two-part test to determine whether a search or seizure by Customs is lawful under the Fourth Amendment. Ramsey plainly did not do so explicitly. Any inference that it did so must be drawn from the Court’s approach of first deciding that Customs’ actions had been authorized by statute and then assessing the reasonableness of the search. Id. at 611, 97 S.Ct. at 1976. The Fifth Circuit has indeed drawn the inference Gonzalez proposes, reasoning that “a warrantless seizure or search in the complete absence of authority —a lawless governmental intrusion — is unconstitutional per se.” United States v. Williams, 617 F.2d 1063, 1074 (5th Cir.1980) (en banc).

[878]*878A difficulty with this analysis is that while the Supreme Court has concluded that the purposes of the Fourth Amendment are served by exclusion of evidence obtained in violation of its standards, Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961); Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914), it seems a quite distinct issue whether Congress’s purposes are served by an exclusionary remedy for violations of the statutes setting forth the jurisdiction of federal law enforcement agencies. Yet Gonzalez’s proposed reading of Ramsey, folding the statutory issue into the constitutional one, would entail use of the exclusionary remedy for the statutory violation without regard to congressional purpose.1 Nonetheless, we assume without deciding that statutory authority for the Customs Service’s actions is essential to the government’s use of the resulting evidence.

Thus we begin by determining whether Customs has jurisdiction to stop vessels in the international waters off the Bahamas. Generally, the Coast Guard has jurisdiction over ships in international waters, and the Customs Service’s jurisdiction is limited to the “customs waters,” located primarily within 12 miles of the United States coast. United States v. Ceballos, 706 F.2d 1198, 1200 (11th Cir.1983); 19 U.S.C.

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United States v. Luis Enrique Gonzalez
875 F.2d 875 (D.C. Circuit, 1989)

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875 F.2d 875, 277 U.S. App. D.C. 318, 1990 A.M.C. 271, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 6599, 1989 WL 49650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-luis-enrique-gonzalez-cadc-1989.