Usav.Maikel Suarez Plasencia
Maikel Suarez Plasencia was convicted of encouraging and inducing Cuban migrants to enter the United States after investigators found a GPS device on his stranded boat showing a trip from Florida to Cuba. He argued that the GPS had been searched without a warrant and that the sentencing court improperly imposed an obstruction-of-justice enhancement based on testimony presented at trial. The Eleventh Circuit held that Suarez’s written consent to a complete search of the boat covered the GPS and its later forensic analysis. The device was found in a storage compartment, and a reasonable person would understand that an unrestricted search of a stranded boat could include a GPS showing where it had traveled. The court also held that Suarez had adequate notice that false testimony could affect sentencing and that the district court properly found he had knowingly presented perjured testimony. The court affirmed the convictions and sentence.
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