Trio sentenced to prison in Miami for smuggling cocaine from Colombia

Posted on Saturday, 08.30.14

Trio sentenced to prison in Miami for smuggling cocaine from Colombia

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard has sentenced three foreign crew members arrested on cocaine-trafficking charges after a U.S. Navy warship intercepted their small fishing boat in January hundreds of miles south of Guatemala in the Pacific Ocean.

Between July 31 and Aug. 27, Lenard sentenced José Esperansa Ramírez, Joel Leyva Alvarado and Victor Medranda Reyes to varying prison terms. The two Mexicans — Leyva and Esperansa — and Medranda, of Ecuador, are likely to be deported upon completion of their sentences.

Esperansa, who acted as the boat captain, was sentenced to 60 months in the penitentiary; Leyva also was sentenced to 60 months in prison; and Medranda to 57 months. The case drew media attention because the defendants initially filed motions asking Judge Lenard to dismiss the charges on the grounds that their arrest in the high seas had been illegal.

The motion alleged that the arrest was illegal under international law because drug trafficking is not a crime that can be prosecuted under so-called universal jurisdiction.

Under this international law principle, six crimes fall under its umbrella: genocide, crimes against humanity. Extrajudicial executions, war crimes, torture and forced disappearances. Judge Lenard rejected the motion, saying that the U.S. case was properly filed and thus was legitimate — mainly because there was precedent for such actions.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/30//v-fullstory/4318346/three-foreign-nationals-are-sentenced.html#storylink=cpy