COCAINE CASE VENTURES INTO TRICKY LEGAL WATERS

Four Victoria-area men busted with more than two tons of cocaine in Juan de
Fuca Strait could be kicked out of the U.S. today and into the custody of
Canadian authorities.

U.S. attorney Kate Pflaumer has scheduled a news conference for today to
discuss the fate of Beau Nairn, 18, Sean Cochrane, 31, Philip Stirling, 46,
and Kenneth Hubley, 41. They are in Seattle in the custody of the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service.

A fifth man, Frank Lynn Styan, is aboriginal and found to have a legal
right to be in the United States. The Vancouver Island resident, who also
has Canadian citizenship, is being held as a material witness.

Pflaumer is expected to discuss his situation as well.

The U.S. Coast Guard seized the Western Wind last week after a Canadian air
force patrol spotted the vessel in international waters off the American
west coast.

David Zuckerman, Cochrane's Seattle lawyer, said Tuesday he has had no idea
what Pflaumer will say today, but believes there are issues over whether
the U.S. has jurisdiction.

"I have been doing legal research on the question of jurisdiction and it is
not clear to me that the U.S. could prove jurisdiction," he said. "But we
don't really know what evidence they have."

Seattle newspapers are reporting through unnamed sources that federal
prosecutors believe the drug case against the Canadians is fatally flawed.

The confusion appears to revolve around whether the Western Wind,
registered to Stirling, was in American waters when it was seized or
whether those aboard it had intent to touch U.S. soil.

Zuckerman said appeal court decisions in the past have indicated there must
be clear evidence a boat is destined for the U.S.

The situation is further complicated by the complexities of maritime law.

Essentially, if a ship flies the Canadian flag and is found involved in
criminal activity in international waters, prosecution would more likely
than not be done in Canada, two maritime law experts said Tuesday.

In order to be flying a Canadian flag, the ship has only to be registered
in Canada.

"If the vessel is registered in Canada, then it is assumed to be flying a
Canadian flag and more likely than not, Canadian jurisdiction would apply
if it was found in international waters," said Ted McDorman, a UVic law
professor.

"If you're on a Canadian (registered) boat on the high seas and you shoot
someone, Canadian law is going to apply. It doesn't matter about the
citizenship of the individual -- it turns on the registration of the vessel."

There are no international waters in Juan de Fuca Strait.

It may be that U.S. criminal law is written in such a way that it applies
only a certain distance out in the water, McDorman said.

If a boat is farther off shore than what the U.S. criminal law designates,
the U.S. law wouldn't necessarily apply.

Canadian criminal law also extends only certain distances out in the water,
McDorman said.

The situation can be further complicated if the ship in question ended up
in U.S. waters because it was hotly pursued by officials.

"If you are dragged into the U.S. because of the doctrine of hot pursuit,
that's tricky," said Richard Paisley, a UBC law school senior lecturer.

Lawyers are mystified about what the U.S. authorities have in mind for
their Canadian clients.

"Either they are going to file a complaint against them or they are going
to kick them out of country," Zuckerman said.

He is unsure what process would follow in either case. If the four men are
charged with drug smuggling, they have to appear in court within 48 hours,
but Zuckerman figures it could be right away. They can be held indefinitely
in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

If they are not charged they could be returned to INS for deportation, or
they could released. Zuckerman doubts they would simply be released.

Styan has a date with federal magistrate Ricardo Martinez later in the
afternoon. Styan was scheduled to testify before a grand jury today, then
Martinez was to review the material-witness warrant in the afternoon to
determine whether it should continue. Styan had not received a grand jury
subpoena by the end of the business day Tuesday.

Barry Flegenheimer, Styan's lawyer, said Styan is adamant he didn't do
anything wrong, he said.

"My client was on the boat," he said, but added Styan knew nothing about
what was going on.

RCMP Cpl. Grant Learned said he had heard speculation the Canadians were
going to be turned over to this country for prosecution, but was unable to
confirm it.

The RCMP's position has been to offer assistance to American authorities
taking the lead in the case. The night the Western Wind was seized it was
the RCMP that notified the Americans but the force also dispatched its
officer to the strait aboard the navy frigate Vancouver.

Robert Poetschke, Canadian consul in Seattle, said despite information
released by the Americans, he is bound by Canadian privacy laws and can say
little about the case.