Course for Home

The cook aboard a foreign-flagged fishing vessel in international waters about 60 miles off Hawaii had been demoted and beaten. Prosecutors said he then fatally stabbed the captain and the first mate with kitchen knives, took control of the ship, ordered crew members to dispose of the captain's body, threatened to kill anyone who disobeyed, and set a course for China. About two days later the crew overpowered him and sealed him in a storage compartment. After the flag state waived jurisdiction, the Coast Guard boarded, and he was taken to Honolulu and charged under a federal law against violence aboard ships. He argued that a U.S. court had no jurisdiction over him, that trying him there without any connection to the United States violated due process, and that his confession should have been suppressed.