First Circuit Rejects 135-Month Sentence for Venezuelan Cocaine Pilot

A federal appeals court has thrown out a more than 11-year prison term for a Venezuelan pilot convicted of trafficking cocaine from Venezuela to Puerto Rico, ruling that his role as merely the aircraft operator warrants a lighter punishment.

First Circuit Rejects 135-Month Sentence for Venezuelan Cocaine Pilot

A federal appeals panel in Boston has overturned a 135-month prison sentence handed to a Venezuelan pilot convicted of flying cocaine from Venezuela to Puerto Rico, directing the lower court to recalculate the term after accounting for his reduced role in the operation.

The First Circuit found that the defendant served only as the plane's operator and therefore qualifies for a mitigating-role adjustment. At sentencing, evidence showed that armed FARC militiamen had told him at an encampment that completing the flight would allow him to go home. Despite this, the appellate court upheld the district judge's conclusion that the circumstances did not amount to a "serious threat of physical injury."

Prosecutors had sought the lengthy term for the trafficking offense, but the appeals judges determined that the pilot's limited participation in the broader conspiracy was not adequately reflected in the original punishment. The case will return to the district court for resentencing.

Source: Courthouse News Service

Source: Courthouse News Service