In a per curiam opinion, Circuit Judges Robin Rosenbaum, Barbara Lagoa, and Stanley Marcus rejected facial and as-applied constitutional challenges brought by Angelo Martinez, Eric Manuel Suero Terrero, and Justo Matos Pena, who acknowledged that binding circuit precedent foreclosed their arguments but raised them to preserve further review.
The defendants were detected on or about January 18, 2022, by a Customs and Border Protection Marine Patrol Aircraft about 158 nautical miles southeast of Isla Beata. A Coast Guard helicopter crew "spotted Defendants jettisoning packages, six of which the Coast Guard later recovered." Martinez identified himself as the vessel's master and claimed Colombian nationality for the boat, but Colombia "said that it could neither confirm nor deny the go-fast vessel's registration."
The panel held that under United States v. Alfonso, 104 F.4th 815 (11th Cir. 2024), a foreign nation's EEZ is "part of the 'high seas' for purposes of the Felonies Clause in Article I of the Constitution," so "enforcement of the MDLEA in EEZs is proper." The court added that "international law does not limit the Felonies Clause."
The panel similarly rejected the defendants' challenge to the MDLEA's definition of a stateless vessel, citing United States v. Canario-Vilomar, 128 F.4th 1374 (11th Cir.), which held that "international law cannot limit Congress's authority to define 'stateless vessel' for purposes of the MDLEA."
On the due process argument that the prosecution lacked a nexus to the United States, the panel said the claim was not raised below and was in any event foreclosed. The court noted Congress's finding that "trafficking in controlled substances aboard vessels is a serious international problem, is universally condemned, and presents a specific threat to the security and societal well-being of the United States."
Suero Terrero, who said he was hired as a deckhand and received a 96-month sentence, argued the district court erred in denying him a minor-participant reduction under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b). The panel found no clear error, observing that the sentencing judge expressed "a lot of sympathy" for him but concluded he had not "really shown [the court] that he's entitled to a minor role." His sentence reflected "his actual conduct of transporting nearly half a ton of cocaine along an international trafficking route."
The panel also addressed Amendment 833 to the Sentencing Guidelines, effective November 1, 2025, which expands when a minor-participant reduction is "generally warranted" for low-level trafficking roles such as couriers and lookouts. Applying the four-factor test from United States v. Jerchower, 631 F.3d 1181 (11th Cir. 2011), the panel held the amendment is substantive rather than clarifying because it "directly alters the text of the Guidelines," the Sentencing Commission did not list it as retroactive in U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(c), and "to the extent that the amendment makes the involvement of other participants irrelevant to whether a defendant can receive a role decrease, it abrogates our Circuit precedent."
Martinez was sentenced to 108 months and Matos Pena to 144 months. The panel affirmed in all respects.