## Facts

- In May 2007, U.S. Coast Guard personnel observed bales later identified as cocaine dropped into the ocean about 35 miles off the Dominican Republic.
- A small open boat (a “yola”) with three men aboard, including Epifanio Matos-Luchi, traveled to the drop site and began retrieving the bales.
- When a U.S. helicopter approached, the yola fled; during the chase it developed engine trouble.
- Dominican Coast Guard personnel recovered the yola and its crew; later that evening, U.S. personnel boarded the Dominican patrol boat and questioned the men.
- The yola displayed no flag or markings and had no registration papers.
- When asked, the crew declined to identify any nationality or registry for the vessel.
- The United States treated the yola as a “vessel without nationality” under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) and, with Dominican cooperation, took the men into U.S. custody for prosecution in the District of Puerto Rico.
- After a jury trial, Matos-Luchi was convicted of MDLEA conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 235 months.

## Issues

1. Whether the government established that the yola was a “vessel without nationality,” making it a “vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States” under the MDLEA.
2. Whether MDLEA jurisdiction is a threshold legal determination for the judge, and what burden of proof applies to jurisdictional facts.

## Decision

- The First Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentence.
- The court held the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the yola was “without nationality” because those in apparent control failed, upon request, to make any claim of nationality or registry.
- The court held MDLEA jurisdiction is a preliminary question for the court, not an element for the jury, and jurisdictional facts are established by a preponderance of the evidence.
- A dissent argued the record did not justify treating the vessel as stateless and warned against overly broad extraterritorial application.

## Legal Principles

- Under the MDLEA, a vessel is “without nationality” when the person in charge fails, upon request by authorized U.S. officers, to make a claim of nationality or registry.
- A vessel’s departure point or apparent destination (e.g., coming from and returning to a particular country) does not itself constitute a claim of nationality or registry for MDLEA purposes.
- MDLEA jurisdiction is decided by the judge as a threshold matter; the government’s burden to prove jurisdictional facts is preponderance of the evidence.
- Stateless vessels may be subject to enforcement jurisdiction consistent with international law principles recognizing that such vessels lack the protection of any flag state.

## Conclusion

The First Circuit upheld MDLEA convictions where the crew, aboard an unmarked and undocumented vessel, refused to claim any nationality upon request; the court treated the vessel as stateless, found jurisdiction proved by a preponderance, and reaffirmed that MDLEA jurisdiction is determined by the judge rather than the jury.


United States v. Matos-Luchi, 627 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2010)