Citations
- 887 F. Supp. 1229
Full opinion text
ORDER
TERENCE T. EVANS, Chief Judge.
Samuel Stoia was one of thirty-seven defendants originally charged in this 1987 case with multiple counts relating to a conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana. Although several multidefendant trials were heard by different juries (cases were tried in 1988 and 1989) Stoia was tried alone on the four counts he faced in 1990. At his trial, he was represented by attorneys Vincent Flynn of Miami and Ronald Walters of Chicago. Another attorney, David Wolfson of Miami, also made appearances on Mr. Stoia’s behalf during various stages of the case. Mr. Wolf-son was present during the trial, but he did not sit at counsel’s table with Stoia and attorneys Flynn and Walters.
A little background about Mr. Stoia is useful in putting the present issue in this case into its proper perspective. In 1976, Mr. Stoia was convicted of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. That case began when two of Stoia’s codefendants were arrested after landing a private plane carrying cocaine at the Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. Stoia received a 2-year prison sentence from this conviction. The custodial component of the sentence was satisfied and Mr. Stoia was released on parole. Stoia did not do well on parole as he left south Florida without permission, and a warrant for his arrest as a parole violator was issued. Subsequently, in 1979, Stoia was caught flying an airplane without permission in Venezuela. According to the record in this case, the plane he was flying was prepared for a drug smuggling operation. The seats of the plane had been removed, and it carried 230 gallons of extra fuel. After Stoia’s return to the United States — via deportation from Venezuela — he finished a brief period in custody. He was released again to parole supervision in 1980.
In the mid-1980’s, the Roubas-Kelly (the name given to the wide-ranging drug conspiracy in this case) pharmacological concern was looking for a pilot to fly planeloads of marijuana from Jamaica to a drop site in the Caribbean. Glen Deppe, a long-time smuggling associate of Mr. Stoia, recommended Stoia to the organization for the job. Stoia, who was an experienced pilot with his own plane, was retained. Stoia then engaged in smuggling activities using his plane, and those activities resulted in his 1987 indictment in this case.
Following the 1987 indictment, an attorney retained by Mr. Stoia made arrangements to have .Stoia surrender to authorities. Stoia, however, had different ideas. He didn’t want to surrender. He went on the lam instead. Stoia eventually was arrested in Hawaii, traveling under a false name, in the fall of 1989. Stoia’s arrest came too late for him to be joined in the trial of his codefendants, and that earned him a favored position as a sole defendant in the trial that was conducted in this court in March of 1990.
After a