# United States v. Martinez

> Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · March 21, 1983 · 700 F.2d 1358

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8916499

## Case

- **Full name:** United States v. Marino Sanchez MARTINEZ, Dario Cordova Vargas-Blandon, Eldidio Bezerra-Anicatide, Julio Velez-Miranda, Disildo Gallardo Smith, Ausberto Ricar-Sanchez, Adalberto Pedrosa-Caicedo, Sabino Iris Gutierrez, Rafael Ballesteros-Velazquez, Manuel Mesino Pajaro, Rafael C. Correa, Victor C. Fuentes
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- **Decided:** March 21, 1983
- **Citations:** 700 F.2d 1358; 12 Fed. R. Serv. 1256; 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 29532
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Clark
- **Judges:** Clark, Fay
- **Cited by:** 30 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8916499

## Opinion text

CLARK, Circuit Judge, specially
concurring:
I concur in the affirmance of the conviction. I would go further than the majority and hold that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to the stopping and boarding of a stateless vessel by the Coast Guard. Without such a right, the Coast Guard has no way of determining the vessel’s nationality, which could be United States. This is certainly true of a vessel displaying the name “Ocean Lady,” but I do not limit my opinion to vessels with an English language name.
*1368 21 U.S.C.A. § 955b subjects to the jurisdiction of the United States “a vessel without nationality.” 14 U.S.C.A. § 89 authorizes the Coast Guard “upon the high seas” to “go on board of any vessel subject to the jurisdiction ... of the United States.”
Thus, I have no problem interpreting these statutes to authorize the actions of the Coast Guard in this case. To accept the argument of appellants, the Coast Guard could not go on the vessel until a search warrant was obtained. This would require a delay. After boarding, as done here, there would be another delay while awaiting verification of the vessel’s Honduran registration. In my opinion, the defendant’s rights were protected when there was no arrest until the Coast Guard verified the lack of Honduran registration and that the vessel was in fact stateless. See United States v. Marino-Garcia, 679 F.2d 1373 at 1379 (11th Cir.1982).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8916499. Public record. Not legal advice.