United States v. Angelo Martinez

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FOR PUBLICATION

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 22-13361

Non-Argument Calendar

____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

ANGELO MARTINEZ,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeals from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 1:22-cr-20040-JEM-1

____________________

____________________

No. 22-13370

____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

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2 Opinion of the Court 22-13361

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

ERIC MANUEL SUERO TERRERO,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeals from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 1:22-cr-20040-JEM-2

____________________

____________________

No. 22-13507

____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

JUSTO MATOS PENA,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeals from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 1:22-cr-20040-JEM-3

____________________

Before ROSENBAUM, LAGOA, and MARCUS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

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22-13361 Opinion of the Court 3

This consolidated appeal arises from the prosecutions of An-

gelo Martinez, Eric Manuel Suero Terrero, and Justos Matos Pena

under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (“MDLEA”). De-

fendants-Appellants argue that the MDLEA is unconstitutional un-

der the Felonies Clause, both on its face and as applied, and that

their prosecutions were invalid because their conduct lacked a

nexus to the United States. They acknowledge, however, that our

binding precedent, including the decision we issued in United States

v. Alfonso, 104 F.4th 815 (11th Cir. 2024), cert. denied, 145 S. Ct. 2706

(2025), forecloses these arguments. So Defendants raise them to

preserve further review.

Suero Terrero also argues that recent amendments to the

Sentencing Guidelines, effective November 1, 2025, should apply to

his case retroactively. Applying our precedent, we conclude that

the amendments are substantive and not clarifying, so they do not

apply retroactively. And even if they did apply retroactively, they

would not change his sentence. Because Defendants’ constitu-

tional claims are foreclosed and the court made no reversible error,

we affirm in full.

I. BACKGROUND

On or about January 18, 2022, a U.S. Customs and Border

Protection Marine Patrol Aircraft detected Martinez, Suero Ter-

rero, and Matos Pena in a go-fast vessel about 158 nautical miles

southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic. U.S. Coast Guard

ships diverted to investigate the area.

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4 Opinion of the Court 22-13361

The Coast Guard also launched a helicopter to assist. The

helicopter’s crew spotted Defendants jettisoning packages, six of

which the Coast Guard later recovered.

As part of its investigation, the Coast Guard gained control

of the go-fast vessel. Once it did so, the Coast Guard Boarding

Team boarded the boat and found Defendants. Martinez identified

himself as the vessel’s master and claimed Colombian nationality

for the vessel.

Based on Martinez’s representation, the Coast Guard

reached out to the Colombian government. But Colombia said

that it could neither confirm nor deny the go-fast vessel’s registra-

tion. Onboard, the Coast Guard Boarding Team recovered about

375 kilograms of cocaine. The Team arrested Defendants and

transferred them to the Coast Guard ship.

Thirteen days after the seizure, on January 31, 2022, Defend-

ants were charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to pos-

sess with intent to distribute cocaine while aboard a vessel subject

to the jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of the MDLEA,

46 U.S.C. §§ 70503(a)(1), 70506(b).

On February 8, 2022, Defendants were charged by indict-

ment with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to dis-

tribute at least five kilograms of cocaine while on board a vessel

subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of 26

U.S.C. §§ 70503(a)(1), 70506(b), and one count of possessing with

intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine on board a

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22-13361 Opinion of the Court 5

vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, in violation

of 46 U.S.C. § 70503(a)(1).

Defendants moved jointly to dismiss the indictment. As rel-

evant to this appeal, they brought two constitutional challenges to

the MDLEA, a facial challenge and an as-applied challenge.

First, Defendants argued that the MDLEA’s definition of

“stateless vessel” is unconstitutional because it applies to vessels

that do not qualify as stateless under customary international law.

And, Defendants continued, customary international law limits

Congress’s power under the Felonies Clause. So in Defendants’

view, the MDLEA violates the limitations that the Felonies Clause

imposes on Congress.

Second, they contended that the MDLEA was unconstitu-

tional as applied to them because they were arrested in the Exclu-

sive Economic Zone of the Dominican Republic. And, Defendants

asserted, that Zone is not part of the “High Seas” as customary in-

ternational law defines the term.

The district court denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss the

indictment. It explained that Eleventh Circuit precedent supports

the constitutionality of the MDLEA under the protective principle

of international law. That principle, the court continued, “permits

a nation to assert jurisdiction over a person whose conduct outside

the nation’s territory threatens the nation’s security or could poten-

tially interfere with the operation of its governmental functions.”

The district court cited several of our cases that have af-

firmed this principle, including United States v. Gonzalez, 776 F.2d

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931, 939 (11th Cir. 1985); United States v. Campbell, 743 F.3d 802, 810

(11th Cir. 2014); United States v. Rendon, 354 F.3d 1320, 1325 (11th

Cir. 2003) (“Congress, under the ‘protective principle’ of interna-

tional law, may assert extraterritorial jurisdiction over vessels in the

high seas that are engaged in conduct that has a potentially adverse

effect and is generally recognized as a crime by nations that have

reasonably developed legal systems.’”) (citation modified).

After the district court denied Defendants’ motion to dis-

miss, they pled guilty.

The court held a sentencing hearing for Martinez and Matos

Pena together. The court granted downward variances for Matos

Pena and Suero Terrero. It sentenced Matos Pena to 144 months

of imprisonment as to each count, to be served concurrently, and

five years of supervised release. As for Suero Terrero, he said he

was hired as a deckhand and did not play a major role in the con-

spiracy. The court sentenced him to 96 months of imprisonment

and two years of supervised release. Finally, the court sentenced

Martinez, who was the master of the vessel, to 108 months of im-

prisonment and two years of supervised release.

Defendants each filed notices of appeal. We consolidated

the cases for review.

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

We review a denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment on

constitutional grounds de novo, but we review unpreserved claims

for plain error. Alfonso, 104 F.4th at 820.

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We review the district court’s determination of a defend-

ant’s role in his offense for clear error. United States v. Rodriguez De

Varon, 175 F.3d 930, 937 (11th Cir. 1999) (en banc), cert denied, 528

U.S. 976 (1999). The district court has “considerable discretion” in

deciding the fact-intensive question of whether a defendant played

a minor role in the offense. United States v. Boyd, 291 F.3d 1274,

1277–78 (11th Cir. 2002). We will not disturb a district court’s sen-

tencing determination unless we are left with a “definite and firm

conviction that a mistake” was made. United States v. Cruickshank,

837 F.3d 1182, 1192 (11th Cir. 2016) (citation modified).

III. ANALYSIS

As Defendants acknowledge, our precedent squarely fore-

closes their constitutional challenges to their indictments. We dis-

cuss each challenge in turn.

A. Congress’s Felonies Committed on the High Seas Clause power ex-

tends within foreign nations’ Exclusive Economic Zones.

Congress’s authority to enact the MDLEA derives from its

power under the Felonies Clause of the Constitution “[t]o define

and punish . . . Felonies committed on the [H]igh Seas.” U.S. Const.

art. I, § 8, cl. 10.

The MDLEA makes it a crime to “possess with intent to . . .

distribute, a controlled substance,” “[w]hile on board a covered ves-

sel,” or to conspire to do so. 46 U.S.C. §§ 70503(a) and 70506(b). A

“covered vessel” includes “a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the

United States.” Id. § 70503(e)(1). And a “vessel subject to the juris-

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8 Opinion of the Court 22-13361

diction of the United States” includes a “vessel without national-

ity.” Id. § 70502(c)(1)(A). So we turn to the meaning of a “vessel

without nationality.” That term includes “a vessel aboard which

the master or individual in charge makes a claim of registry and for

which the claimed nation of registry does not affirmatively and un-

equivocally assert that the vessel is of its nationality.” Id. §

70502(d)(1)(C).

Here, then, the go-fast vessel Defendants used qualified as a

“vessel without nationality” under the MDLEA because Martinez

claimed Colombian registry, but Colombia did not confirm Mar-

tinez’s claim. And that is so even though the Coast Guard encoun-

tered their vessel in the Exclusive Economic Zone (“EEZ”) of the

Dominican Republic. The EEZ lies “just beyond a nation’s territo-

rial waters but within 200 miles of the coastal baseline.” Alfonso,

104 F.4th at 821.

Defendants argue that the Felonies Clause does not allow

Congress to enact legislation that reaches into another country’s

EEZ because, they say, another country’s EEZ is not part of the

high seas for purposes of the Felonies Clause. Rather, Defendants

assert, customary international law defines “High Seas.” For this

proposition, Defendants cite United States v. Bellaizac-Hurtado, 700

F.3d 1245, 1249 (11th Cir. 2012).

But Bellaizac-Hurtado doesn’t help Defendants. The defend-

ants in Bellaizac-Hurtado were apprehended in the territorial waters

(not the EEZ) of another country. And they challenged their pros-

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ecution under the Offences Clause. We held that “customary in-

ternational law” limits Congress’s power to define and punish con-

duct under the Offences Clause. See 700 F.3d at 1249. And because

drug trafficking, like most kinds of private criminal activity, is not

a violation of international law, see id. at 1254, the Offences Clause

does not authorize Congress to prosecute drug trafficking in the

territorial waters of other nations, see id. at 1258.

But we expressly distinguished between drug trafficking that

occurs on the high seas and drug trafficking that occurs in another

nation’s territorial waters. We explained that “Congress possesses

additional constitutional authority to restrict conduct on the high

seas” under various other parts of the Constitution, including the

Felonies Clause, and “we have always upheld extraterritorial con-

victions under our drug trafficking laws as an exercise of power

under the Felonies Clause.” Id. at 1257.

Despite our caveat, Defendants seek to expand our holding

in Bellaizac-Hurtado to attack the constitutionality of MDLEA pros-

ecutions on the high seas. But we have squarely rejected this very

challenge before.

In Alfonso, we ruled that a nation’s EEZ is “part of the ‘high

seas’ for purposes of the Felonies Clause in Article I of the Consti-

tution,” so “enforcement of the MDLEA in EEZs is proper.” 104

F.4th at 823, 827. We also explained that “international law does

not limit the Felonies Clause.” Id. at 826. We concluded that the

district court appropriately denied the defendants’ motion to dis-

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miss the indictment. Id. at 827; see also United States v. Canario-Vi-

lomar, 128 F.4th 1374, 1382 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 146 S. Ct. 269

(2025) (same).

Alfonso binds us. See In re Lambrix, 776 F.3d 789, 794 (11th

Cir. 2015) (“[U]nder this Court’s prior-panel-precedent rule, ‘a prior

panel’s holding is binding on all subsequent panels unless and until

it is overruled or undermined to the point of abrogation by the Su-

preme Court or by this court sitting en banc.’”) (citation modified).

So we affirm the ruling of the district court here that Defendants’

prosecution under the MDLEA as applied to them is constitutional

because a nation’s EEZ is part of the high seas for purposes of the

Felonies Clause.

B. International law does not limit Congress’s power to assert juris-

diction over high-seas drug trafficking on vessels whose claimed na-

tion of registry does not confirm the claim.

Binding precedent also forecloses Defendants’ second con-

stitutional challenge to their prosecutions.

Defendants assert that the MDLEA is unconstitutional on its

face, because its definition of a stateless vessel as subject to the ju-

risdiction of the United States violates an international law limit on

Congress’s powers under the Felonies Clause. We disagree.

To be sure, under international law, as multilateral interna-

tional treaties that the United States has entered define it, vessels

on the high seas are typically subject to the criminal jurisdiction of

only their nation of registry. See United States v. Marino-Garcia, 679

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F.2d 1373, 1380 (11th Cir. 1982) (“[I]nternational law generally pro-

hibits any country from asserting jurisdiction over foreign vessels

on the high seas.”). But “[s]tateless vessels . . . are ‘international

pariahs’ that have ‘no internationally recognized right to navigate

freely on the high seas.’” Campbell, 743 F.3d at 810 (quoting Marino-

Garcia, 679 F.2d at 1382). And “we have long upheld the authority

of Congress to ‘extend[ ] the criminal jurisdiction of this country

to any stateless vessel in international waters engaged in the distri-

bution of controlled substances.’” Id. (quoting Marino-Garcia, 679

F.2d at 1383).

Here, as we’ve explained, the go-fast vessel in which Defend-

ants were traveling qualified as a “a vessel without nationality” be-

cause Colombia—which Martinez, the master of the vessel, named

as the boat’s country of registry—declined to confirm that the ves-

sel was registered with it. See 46 U.S.C. § 70502(d)(1)(C).

Defendants argue the failure of Colombia’s government to

confirm the vessel’s registration does not make the vessel stateless

under international law. But our precedent holds that it does.

We squarely affirmed the constitutionality of this MDLEA

provision in Canario-Vilomar, 128 F.4th at 1381. There, we held “the

MDLEA was a constitutional exercise of Congressional authority

under the Felonies Clause. . . It follows that international law can-

not limit Congress’s authority to define ‘stateless vessel’ for pur-

poses of the MDLEA.” Id. (citation modified).

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So once again, our prior-panel precedent forecloses Defend-

ants’ claim. See In re Lambrix, 776 F.3d at 794. And we affirm the

district court’s ruling denying this constitutional challenge.

C. Congress’s constitutional authority over stateless vessels on the

high seas does not require a nexus with the United States.

For the first time on appeal, Defendants argue that prosecut-

ing them for crimes that have no nexus to the United States violates

due process. But we have long held that “an issue not raised in the

district court and raised for the first time in an appeal will not be

considered by this court.” Walker v. Jones, 10 F.3d 1569, 1572 (11th

Cir. 1994) (citation modified).

And in any case, we have repeatedly rejected the argument

“that Congress exceeded its authority under the Felonies Clause

because [an MDLEA defendant’s] conduct lacked any nexus to the

United States.” Alfonso, 104 F.4th at 826 (citing Campbell, 743 F.3d

at 809–10). As we’ve explained, “the MDLEA is a valid exercise of

Congress’s power under the Felonies Clause as applied to drug traf-

ficking crimes without a ‘nexus’ to the United States.” United States

v. Cabezas-Montano, 949 F.3d 567, 587 (11th Cir 2020). We affirmed

these principles again in Canario-Vilomar, where we held that chal-

lenges to the lack of a nexus requirement are “squarely foreclosed

by our binding precedent.” Canario-Vilomar, 128 F.4th at 1383.

Plus, we agree with the government that drug trafficking on

the high seas has a nexus with the United States. Congress has

found that “trafficking in controlled substances aboard vessels is a

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serious international problem, is universally condemned, and pre-

sents a specific threat to the security and societal well-being of the

United States.” 46 U.S.C. § 70501.

For these reasons, we affirm the ruling of the district court

rejecting Defendants’ due-process challenge to their prosecutions

as lacking a nexus to the United States.

D. The district court did not clearly err in determining that Suero Ter-

rero was not entitled to a minor-role reduction as a mariner trans-

porting more than 300 kilograms of cocaine.

Suero Terrero argues that the district court clearly erred in

denying him a minor-participant reduction. We are not persuaded.

Whether a defendant qualifies for a minor-participant reduc-

tion under the Guidelines presents a finding of fact that we review

for clear error only. Rodriguez De Varon, 175 F.3d at 934. “Clear

error review is deferential.” Cruickshank, 837 F.3d at 1192. “The dis-

trict court’s ‘choice between two permissible views of the evi-

dence’ as to the defendant’s role in the offense will rarely constitute

clear error ‘[s]o long as the basis of the trial court’s decision is sup-

ported by the record and does not involve a misapplication of a rule

of law.’” Id. (quoting Rodriguez De Varon, 175 F.3d at 945).

Under the Sentencing Guidelines, a defendant is entitled to

a two-level decrease in his offense level if he was a minor partici-

pant in the criminal activity. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b) (2025). A mi-

nor-participant role reduction applies to a defendant who is “sub-

stantially less culpable than the average participant in the criminal

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14 Opinion of the Court 22-13361

activity” and less culpable than most other participants in the crim-

inal activity “but whose role could not be described as mini-

mal.” Id. § 3B1.2, cmt. n.3(A), 5.

The defendant bears the burden of establishing by a prepon-

derance of the evidence that he qualifies for a minor-role reduc-

tion. United States v. Alvarez-Coria, 447 F.3d 1340, 1343 (11th Cir.

2006).

In determining whether to grant a minor-role reduction, a

court must apply the analysis set forth in Rodriguez De Varon, 175

F.3d at 940–48 (the “De Varon factors”). There, we explained that

(1) “the district court must measure the defendant’s role against the

relevant conduct for which [he] has been held accountable,” id. at

940; and (2) “the district court may also measure the defendant’s

culpability in comparison to that of other participants in the rele-

vant conduct.” Id. at 944.

On the first prong, a district court must assess all the facts

probative of the defendant’s role in the relevant conduct for which

he is being held accountable. Id. at 941. A defendant must establish

that his role was minor as compared to the conduct specifically at-

tributed to him. Id.

The second prong directs its focus to the conduct of the

other identified participants in the relevant conduct, in comparison

to the conduct for which the defendant is being held accountable.

See United States v. Moran, 778 F.3d 942, 980 (11th Cir. 2015). We’ve

explained that “the district court should look at other participants

only to the extent that they (1) are identifiable or discernable from

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the evidence, and (2) were involved in the relevant conduct at-

tributed to the defendant.” Id. So “[t]he conduct of participants in

any larger criminal conspiracy is irrelevant.” Id. (citation modi-

fied). When we consider a defendant’s conduct in comparison to

the conduct of other participants, “a defendant is not automatically

entitled to a minor role adjustment merely because [he] was some-

what less culpable than the other discernable participants.” Rodri-

guez De Varon, 175 F.3d at 944. Indeed, we’ve recognized that “[t]he

fact that a defendant’s role may be less than that of other partici-

pants engaged in the relevant conduct may not be dispositive of

role in the offense, since it is possible that none are minor or mini-

mal participants.” Id.

Our review of the record here does not reflect that the dis-

trict court clearly erred in finding Suero Terrero was not entitled to

a minor-role adjustment. The district court explained that it had

reviewed Suero Terrero’s sentencing objections, which sought a

minor-role adjustment. And during Suero Terrero’s sentencing,

the court listened while Suero Terrero’s counsel detailed Suero Ter-

rero’s involvement in the conspiracy in relation to others, including

in relation to four other alleged co-conspirators besides his co-de-

fendants. So the record shows that the district court was aware of

and considered Suero Terrero’s minor-role argument.

Indeed, the court expressed “a lot of sympathy” for Suero

Terrero. Still, it concluded that Suero Terrero had not “really

shown [the court] that he’s entitled to a minor role. He is charged

with a specific set of facts and a specific involvement in a specific

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16 Opinion of the Court 22-13361

conspiracy, and in that conspiracy he’s not a minor participant.”

Even so, though, the court imposed a 96-month sentence, 12

months below the low end of the guideline range and the lowest

sentence of the three co-defendants.

On this record, we cannot say that the district court’s rejec-

tion of a minor-role adjustment was clearly erroneous. Suero Ter-

rero’s sentence considered his actual conduct of transporting

nearly half a ton of cocaine along an international trafficking

route. The amount of drugs involved in a drug-trafficking offense

is “a material consideration in assessing a defendant’s role in [his]

relevant conduct.” Rodriguez De Varon, 175 F.3d at 943. So the first

De Varon factor—Suero Terrero’s sentence in comparison to the

conduct for which he is being held accountable—supports affir-

mance here.

The second De Varon factor, the defendant’s conduct in com-

parison to that of the other participants in the relevant conduct,

also supports affirmance here. Suero Terrero was one of three par-

ticipants involved in trafficking a large amount of drugs in interna-

tional waters. True, he may have been the “least culpable.” Id. at

944. But we’ve explained that fact does not make him “automati-

cally entitled to a minor role adjustment.” Id. Suero Terrero may

not have understood the full scope of the conspiracy or exerted de-

cision-making power, but nothing in the record suggests that Suero

Terrero lacked understanding of the nature of his conduct in traf-

ficking the drugs.

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The district court also appropriately adjusted Suero Ter-

rero’s sentence relative to the other participants in the conduct.

The court gave Suero Terrero the lowest sentence of the

three defendants, twelve months below Martinez’s sentence. So

even though he did not get a minor-participant reduction, his sen-

tence appropriately reflects his role in the conduct relative to other

participants in the relevant conduct. Thus, the second De Varon fac-

tor also counsels affirmance.

We are aware that while this case has been pending on ap-

peal, amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines became effective—

including Amendment 833, which affects minor-role determina-

tion in drug-trafficking cases. See U.S.S.G. App. C, Amend. 833 (eff.

Nov. 1, 2025). The guideline inserted new language into U.S.S.G. §

2D1.1(e)(2)(B) expanding the circumstances under which courts

should apply the minor-participant reduction under § 3B1.2. The

new instruction states that the minor-participant reduction is “gen-

erally warranted” for defendants whose primary function is a low-

level trafficking role, like a courier, lookout, small-scale distributor.

See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(e)(2)(B).

But generally, in reviewing a district court’s application of

the Sentencing Guidelines, we apply the version of the Guidelines

in effect at the time of the defendant’s sentencing. See United States

v. Jerchower, 631 F.3d 1181, 1184 (11th Cir. 2011). We will consider

new amendments on appeal only if they are “clarifying” rather

than “substantive.” Id. at 1184–85. Jerchower directs us to evaluate

several factors to determine whether guidelines are clarifying or

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18 Opinion of the Court 22-13361

substantive: (1) whether the amendment alters the text of the

Guidelines or alters only the commentary; (2) whether the Com-

mission has described an amendment as clarifying or whether its

statements in the amendment commentary reflect a substantive

change; (3) whether the Commission has included the amendment

in the list of retroactive amendments in U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10(c); and

(4) whether the amendment overturns circuit precedent, which

could suggest a substantive change, or whether it clarifies a mean-

ing inherent in the original guideline. Id. at 1185.

After considering these factors, we conclude that Amend-

ment 833 is substantive. First, it directly alters the text of the

Guidelines rather than merely adding commentary. Second, the

amendment commentary reflects a substantive change. It explains,

for instance, that “[t]he amendment expands the circumstances in

which an adjustment under § 3B1.2 is warranted in § 2D1.1 cases.”

U.S.S.G. App. C, Amend. 833. And the amendment makes the mi-

nor- and minimal-participant adjustments applicable in drug-traf-

ficking cases, even if the offense did not involve other participants

besides the defendant and even if the defendant was not substan-

tially less culpable than the average participant in the criminal ac-

tivity. See id. Third, the Sentencing Commission did not list

Amendment 833 as a retroactive amendment in U.S.S.G.

§ 1B1.10(c). Fourth, to the extent that the amendment makes the

involvement of other participants irrelevant to whether a defend-

ant can receive a role decrease, it abrogates our Circuit precedent,

which tells us to consider the defendant’s role relative to other par-

ticipants in his relevant conduct.

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22-13361 Opinion of the Court 19

Because Amendment 833 is substantive, it is not retroac-

tively applicable. So we do not consider it in our analysis.

IV. CONCLUSION

For the reasons we’ve explained above, we affirm the district

court’s ruling in all respects.

AFFIRMED.