Case library · Square Grouper
Charts for Home Waters
United States v. Freeman (1981)
Charge: Conspiracy to import marijuanaCourt: U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th CircuitState: FloridaDocket: Square Grouper
Did the crew mean to bring the cargo into their own country, or only to carry it to a foreign port?
The facts
An eighty-eight-foot shrimp boat left a Florida port, bound, her crew said, for nearby fishing grounds. Instead she ran to banks off Nicaragua, where men from another vessel loaded 503 bales into her ice hold: 41,750 pounds of marijuana. She was stopped ten days out. Her captain told the jury the cargo was for Mexico. Her charts covered only one stretch of American coast, and her tide tables only her home port.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: United States v. Freeman, 660 F.2d 1030 (5th Cir. 1981)
Read more at law.justia.com. The source reveals the outcome.