United States v. Alberto Espinosa-Cerpa

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Alberto Espinosa-Cerpa was arrested along with his fellow crewmen on the shrimp boat, MISS PHYLLIS, when Coast Guard officers boarded that vessel in the Gulf of Mexico and found her to be carrying over 35,000 pounds of marijuana and to be bound for Key West, Florida. Espinosa-Cerpa subsequently was convicted in a jury trial of conspiracy to import marijuana into the United States, with intent to distribute same, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 963. He now attacks that conviction on three grounds, arguing: (1) that the prior acquittal in a separate trial of…