U.S.

ATLANTA, GA – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed two misdemeanor convictions against Rady Williams, who was cited for unauthorized commercial activity and for interfering with a National Park Service ranger while inside Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park. Williams was convicted following a bench trial before a magistrate judge in the Northern District of Georgia. The court found him guilty of conducting commercial operations without a permit under 36 C.F.R. § 5.3, and of resisting and intentionally interfering with a government employee performing official duties under 36 C.F.R. § 2.32(a)(1). The convictions stemmed from multiple incidents between Williams and park rangers in 2022 and 2023. The consolidated appeals were filed under Eleventh C...

TAMPA, FL – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the conviction of Nedry McLean, who was sentenced to 87 months in prison for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine aboard a vessel subject to U.S. jurisdiction. McLean was apprehended on December 30, 2021, after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft spotted a low-profile vessel in international waters approximately 37 nautical miles north of Colón, Panama. U.S. Coast Guard personnel observed the occupants jettisoning packages overboard before stopping and boarding the vessel. Authorities recovered 40 one-kilogram packages of cocaine from the water. McLean was charged in the Middle District of Florida under case number 8:22-cr-00026-SCB-AAS-3 with vio...

MIAMI, FL – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has upheld the convictions of three men caught transporting cocaine on a stateless vessel in the Caribbean, rejecting their constitutional challenges to the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and arguments over jurisdiction. The defendants, Santo Rosario-Rivera, Francisco Rijo-Rijo (also known as David Ernand), and Placido Rivera-Rodriguez, were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2022 while aboard a vessel located approximately 130 nautical miles off the coast of Aruba. The vessel displayed no indicia of nationality, and none of the men identified a master or made a nationality claim for the vessel, rendering it stateless under 46 U.S.C. § 70502(d)(1)(B). The Coast Guard recovered 18 bales of cocaine during the search...

MIAMI, FL – The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the conviction of Adam Marc Twinley, a British citizen who was found guilty of possession of a firearm by an alien unlawfully in the United States. Twinley was convicted in the Southern District of Florida under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A), case number 2:24-cr-14012-AMC-1. The case was appealed under Eleventh Circuit case number 25-11774. Court records show that Twinley entered the country on a P-1 nonimmigrant visa in 2013 and overstayed. Although his wife’s I-130 petition was approved in 2020, he never filed an I-485 adjustment application. In 2023, while awaiting a removal hearing, Twinley used his friend’s firearms at a shooting range and was later charged. At trial, Twinley argued that he mi...

MOBILE, AL – The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Preston Buie, who was stopped along Interstate 10 for following too closely and was later found to be transporting a dozen bricks of cocaine and a loaded handgun. Buie, a convicted felon, was pulled over in January 2023 by a Mobile County sheriff’s deputy who had been advised by border patrol to watch for a vehicle matching Buie’s. The officer called for a K-9 unit after observing Buie act evasively and provide inconsistent responses about his travel. The drug dog alerted, and a search of the vehicle uncovered the contraband. Buie was arrested and later convicted on three federal charges: possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and felon i...

ATLANTA, GA – The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that two Florida therapists who successfully challenged bans on conversion therapy in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County are entitled to a significantly higher attorney fee award than initially granted by a lower court. The case stemmed from ordinances passed by the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County prohibiting therapists from engaging in “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts” (SOCE) with minors. Dr. Robert Otto and Dr. Julie Hamilton filed a lawsuit in 2018, arguing that the bans violated their First Amendment rights. They were represented by attorneys from Liberty Counsel. After the Eleventh Circuit ruled in their favor in 2020, the plaintiffs accepted offers of judgment from the city and county. The dispute contin...

MIAMI, FL – The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction of Oswaldo Gonzalez, who was found guilty of conspiring to traffic cocaine while aboard a vessel in waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA). Gonzalez challenged the constitutionality of the MDLEA and the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that the statute unlawfully applies to conduct within another country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and that international law should limit U.S. enforcement. He also argued a U.S. nexus was required for due process. The appellate court rejected those arguments, citing binding precedent. In previous cases like United States v. Alfonso and United States v. Canario-Vilomar, the court ruled that the MDLEA is a valid use of congr...

MIAMI, FL – The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction of Oswaldo Gonzalez, who was found guilty of conspiring to traffic cocaine while aboard a vessel in waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA). Gonzalez challenged the constitutionality of the MDLEA and the court’s jurisdiction, arguing that the statute unlawfully applies to conduct within another country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and that international law should limit U.S. enforcement. He also argued a U.S. nexus was required for due process. The appellate court rejected those arguments, citing binding precedent. In previous cases like United States v. Alfonso and United States v. Canario-Vilomar, the court ruled that the MDLEA is a valid use of congr...

AUSTIN, TX – Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced the completion of a statewide citizenship verification effort, identifying 2,724 potential noncitizens registered to vote. File Photo (2024) The review, made possible by the Trump administration’s decision to grant states free and direct access to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database, compared Texas’s 18 million registered voters against federal citizenship records. The Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) has since forwarded flagged records to county officials for further investigation under Chapter 16 of the Texas Election Code. County voter registrars are required to send notices to the identified individuals, who will have 30 days to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Failure to respond may result...

CHICAGO, IL – The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the sentence of Arthur Runnels, who was convicted in 2023 for cocaine distribution and firearm possession while on supervised release. Runnels was arrested by federal authorities for possessing and distributing cocaine and for being a felon in possession of a firearm. At the time of his arrest, he was already under supervised release from a prior conviction. Following a consolidated hearing, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois sentenced Runnels to 90 months in prison for the new charges, along with an additional 57 months for violating his supervised release. Runnels appealed, arguing the 90-month sentence was above the federal sentencing guidelines and lacked proper justification. The ap...