U.S. v. Coats, No. 79-5015

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Before RUSSELL, Circuit Judge, FIELD, Senior Circuit Judge, and WIDENER; DONALD RUSSELL
• Citation: 611 F.2d 37
• Decision Date: 29 November 1979
• Docket Number: No. 79-5015
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Gilliam Raymond COATS a/k/a Jack Long, a/k/a Bill Walters, Appellant.

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611 F.2d 37 UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
Gilliam Raymond COATS a/k/a Jack Long, a/k/a Bill Walters, Appellant. No. 79-5015. United States Court of Appeals,
Fourth Circuit. Argued July 12, 1979.
Decided Nov. 29, 1979.

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Bobby Lee Cook, Summerville, Ga. (Cook & Palmour, Summerville, Ga., on brief), and L. Patten Mason, Morehead City, N. C. (Mason & Phillips, P. A., Morehead City, N. C., on brief), for appellant.

Herman E. Gaskins, Jr., Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., Raleigh, N. C. (George M. Anderson, U. S. Atty., Raleigh, N. C., on brief), for appellee.

Before RUSSELL, Circuit Judge, FIELD, Senior Circuit Judge, and WIDENER, Circuit Judge.

DONALD RUSSELL, Circuit Judge:

Defendant/appellant appeals from his conviction under 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a), 960(a)(1), and 963, of conspiracy to import marijuana. His primary contention on appeal concerns the search and seizure of the vessel used to transport the marijuana. The facts pertinent to that search and seizure may be briefly stated: in January of 1978 the United States Coast Guard was engaged in patrolling the Caribbean sea lanes for general law enforcement purposes with a special emphasis on drug interdiction. On January 25th the Coast Guard Cutter ALERT spotted the LADY ELLEN, a fishing vessel of North Carolina registry, in the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Following

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its policy of stopping all United States vessels less than two hundred fifty (250) feet in length, the crew of the ALERT stopped and boarded the LADY ELLEN and inquired of its master the vessel's destination and point of embarkation. At that point the master stated "you got me, I'm coming from Colombia and I have a load of marijuana on board." A search ensued which produced some twenty-five (25) tons of marijuana. The crew then cooperated in a controlled delivery of the marijuana to their co-conspirators waiting in North Carolina. Ultimately, the marijuana was seized and a number of individuals, including the defendant, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to import marijuana.

Defendant contends that the search of the LADY ELLEN was unlawful and that all evidence derived from it should be suppressed. The Coast Guard admittedly had no suspicion concerning criminal activities aboard the vessel. It boarded, pursuant to authority under 14 U.S.C. § 89(a), for purposes of conducting a safety and documentation inspection, and thereafter allegedly acquired probable cause to conduct the search when the master uttered his inculpatory statement. It is the initial boarding which defendant contests.

The validity of section 89(a) boardings, which may occur virtually anywhere in the world at the discretion of the Coast Guard, presents an intriguing question when measured against Fourth Amendment standards, particularly in light of the Coast Guard's admittedly drug related policy of stopping all vessels under a certain length which are found in Caribbean passages known to be used by smugglers. ¹ Yet, tempted though we are, we must decline to consider that question since we conclude that the district court correctly denied the defendant standing to contest the validity of the search.

In Rakas v. Illinois (1978) 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387, the Supreme Court declared that only one who has a legitimate expectancy of privacy in property may object to a search of such property, and, while the expectation need not rest on common-law property concepts, such property rights may often be determinative of whether a party has such expectation of privacy as to support his objection to a

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property search under the Fourth Amendment. ² In this case the defendant Coats made no showing of a property right in either the vessel searched or in the property seized. ³ He did not testify at the suppression hearing, even though he might have done so without prejudice to his rights at trial, but relied entirely on the testimony of Breslin, the captain of the vessel, to sustain his claim to privacy. ⁴

Breslin stated, during his testimony, that his initial contacts were with the defendant and that it was the defendant who advanced funds for provisioning and equipping the vessel turned over to him for use in the illegal transportation of marijuana from Colombia to the United States. But the defendant represented to Breslin that he was acting under the orders of the top "boss." The defendant introduced Breslin immediately after this statement to a "Sam." Breslin assumed that "Sam" was the top boss, to whom the defendant had referred. Such assumption seemed to be borne out by later circumstances. Accordingly, from the time that "Sam" was introduced to Breslin by the...