United States v. Martinez

William Martinez (defendant) was a former government official in El Salvador who was part of a conspiracy that sought to import large quantities of cocaine into the United States. The cocaine was shipped by sea from Columbia to El Salvador, and then transported by truck through Guatemala and Mexico into the United States. Martinez ran the complex middle segment in the transportation scheme. He oversaw the transfer of the cocaine from large oceangoing vessels off the El Salvador coast onto smaller boats that brought the cocaine to shore, provided for secure storage of the cocaine, and then managed the reloading of the cocaine onto large trucks for overland transportation. Martinez recruited, supervised, paid, and sometimes threatened the workers who assisted in these steps. After receiving information from an informant, agents from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Guatemalan officials stopped three of the conspiracy’s large trucks carrying more than 2,500 kilograms of cocaine on the main highway that ran from Guatemala to Mexico. The DEA later arrested Martinez and charged him with federal drug importation crimes under 21 U.S.C. § 959(a). Martinez was convicted and appealed. He alleged that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he had the knowledge and intent that the cocaine was destined for importation into the United States as required by the statute.