MISTRIAL CALLED IN JURY TAMPER CASE

MIAMI (AP) A mistrial was declared Friday in the case of a jury
foreman charged with accepting nearly $500,000 for his vote in a major
cocaine-smuggling case after jurors said they were "at each other's
throats."

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King dismissed the jury in the
trial of Miguel "Mike" Moya. Prosecutors plan to retry the case.

Prosecutors had contended that Moya took the money to vote innocent
and persuade others to do the same in the trial of reputed drug
kingpins Augusto "Willie" Falcon and Salvador "Sal" Magluta. The pair
were acquitted in February 1996 of charges they smuggled 75 tons of
cocaine from Colombia into the United States.

Moya was charged with money laundering, witness tampering, conspiracy
and bribery. His parents, Jose and Rafaela Moya, also were on trial on
charges of money laundering, witness tampering and accessory.

Prosecutors refused to comment, other than to say they plan to retry
the Moya family on April 5. Moya still could face life in prison if
convicted, and his parents still could be sentenced to a maximum of 62
1/2 years.

Jurors sent a note to the judge Thursday, after four days of
deliberations, saying they couldn't reach a verdict.

"We are unable to come to a unanimous decision," jury foreman Carlo
Hollis said in the note. "We are at each other's throats ... HELP!!!"

King asked jurors Friday if there was any chance of reaching a
verdict. They said no.

Moya's attorney Paul McKenna said he will ask on Tuesday for his
client to be released on bond. Moya has been in solitary confinement
in a federal detention center and his parents have been free on bond
since they were indicted in September.

"A hung jury is a tie, not a victory," McKenna said. "I'm heartened by
the fact that some jurors accepted our defense and we're hopeful that
we will prevail."

Falcon and Magluta reportedly made $2 billion profit smuggling cocaine
during the 1980s. After they were acquitted, federal investigators
began looking into the jury that cleared them.

About the same time, Moya's parents retired and began living in
luxury. Moya and his parents paid for a home in the Florida Keys, a
two-week vacation in Hawaii, season tickets to the Florida Marlins,
tickets for the World Series, several Rolex watches, a sports car and
a boat.

Attorneys for the Moya family said the family's wealth came not from
any bribe but from a cousin, Ramon "Ray" Perez, a convicted drug
smuggler and former Miami police officer.

Perez, who served four years in prison for drug trafficking, testified
that he paid $385,000 to Moya and family members to deliver cocaine
and $100,000 to store 880 pounds of the drug.

Falcon and Magluta were reputedly the top drug traffickers in the
United States in the 1980s.

The Falcon-Magluta jurors had deliberated for three days when they
sent a note to the judge saying they were locked in a "personal
conflict" and "could not reach a verdict." Hours later, they returned
the acquittals.

The acquittals humiliated prosecutors. U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey
resigned after a newspaper reported he was under investigation by the
Justice Department for allegedly biting a topless dancer on the arm
the night after the verdict.

Falcon and Magluta are now imprisoned on lesser, unrelated
charges.