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.