United States v. Olaf Peter Juda Raymond Edward Missell Anthony Burg Frans Gustaaf Van Der Hoeven and Christopher Dean Paris

SKOPIL, Senior Circuit Judge:

These appeals address the authority of the United States to apprehend individuals on the high seas and the jurisdiction to prosecute them for violations of the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA), 46 U.S.C.App. §§ 1901-04. Defendants entered conditional guilty pleas to charges of possession of drugs with intent to distribute, 46 U.S.C. § 1903(a), and arson, 18 U.S.C. § 81. All reserved the right to seek appellate review of the district court’s refusal to dismiss the prosecutions for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and the district court’s rejection of…