FROM COCAINE BOAT TO FEDERAL COURT

The view from the 15th floor of the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. District
Courthouse in downtown Tampa is impressive this bright, clear Monday
morning. There are about a half dozen Polk Countians, including
myself, standing among 35 prospective jurors outside the courtroom of
District Judge Richard Lazzaras.

I am in a better mood than most waiting to go in back into the
courtroom: I have been excused from jury duty. But curious to find out
of whom I would have sat in judgment, I stuck around for the criminal
trial that my group had been assigned.

Out of the 35 jurors will be selected 12 jurors and three
alternates.

The courtroom is cavernous and well-lighted. It's a good thing:
Besides the judge, there is a court reporter, a clerk, three U.S.
marshals, three U.S. assistant district attorneys and three other
court-support people of unknown duties.

There are 10 people grouped around the defense table. Five are wearing
headphones - they are the defendants, all from Mexico, none English-
speaking. Two interpreters will take turns translating for those
wearing the headphones during the trial. The other five people are all
attorneys: four men, one woman.

Including the prospective jurors, the five defendants have affected
the lives of more than 50 people this morning. It is a trial that will
continue through the week, and possibly may last until month's end on
Monday, the judge tells the group.

The indictment was read by the judge. Stemming from a Friday, July 7,
2006, action by the U.S. Coast Guard, all five are charged with
possession of a large amount of cocaine, as well as a second charge of
conspiring to sell and distribute it. (Once the jury is selected, the
members will learn from opening arguments that there are several
hundreds of pounds of cocaine, worth several millions of dollars, involved.)

The judge conducted the questioning of jurors. Know any of the
defendants? Lawyers? Marital status? Job? Kids? Ever been sued? Family
members in law enforcement? Would anything keep you from making an
impartial decision in the case?

Among the prospects this morning are a Bartow school teacher, a
professional driver from South Lakeland, an office manager from Winter
Haven, an Auburndale power-plant worker, the owner of a Winter Haven
well-drilling company and a citrus-industry employee from Frostproof.

After lunch, the lawyers conferred with the judge. The 15 jurors were
decided on and sworn in by 1:45 p.m.

The government's case was straightforward: A helicopter had been
launched from a 378-foot-long Coast Guard cutter on a patrol mission
well off the coast of Mexico. The pilot spotted a wake in the water -
the boat having long since left. The pilot followed the wake to a "go-
fast boat," said the assistant district attorney, so called because it
was powered by four enormous outboard motors. No flag, no name, no
markings.

There were - and here is an interesting point - 10 people on the
boat.

The helicopter issued a series of visual warnings similar to those on
a police car, said the attorney. The boat continued. Verbal warnings
to stop were issued through a loudspeaker. No response. Three lines of
bullets sprayed up "stitchlines" in the water in front of the bow of
the boat. Still it sped on.

It was then that the helicopter gunner turned his attention to the
four motors. The boat slowed - but only because one motor after
another was disabled. A shot into the fourth motor stopped the boat.

By this time, the helicopter was low on fuel. It returned briefly to
the cutter, now speeding its way toward the boat. Upon return, the
pilot found nine men hanging onto a make-shift raft, while the 10th
built a bonfire on the boat deck. He jumped from the boat when the
fire started and headed for the raft.

The helicopter began a rescue operation; the cutter arrived and put
out the fire, saving the evidence. All this, by the way, will be shown
to jurors on videotape.

Five of the men rescued were turned over to Mexican authorities. The
other five are sitting at the defense table.

Now, for the defense opening statements from each attorney. All are
the same. To paraphrase:

These gents have no connection to the cocaine. They didn't even know
it was onboard. They had no idea what was in the bales. It was all put
on there before they got on the boat.

Could be. Maybe the five in custody thought the boat had four
outboards the size of a small car so that the other five guys could
water ski. Or maybe they were all making a quick trip over to Havana
for an authentic mojito or two.

Maybe so. I didn't go back for the details, although I do plan to find
out the outcome.

It's just as well I wasn't called to serve on the jury.

I expect loud snickering during opening arguments is contempt in any
judge's courtroom.

Lonnie Brown, The Ledger's associate editor, could have been a jury
foreman. He'll report back on the trial's outcome.