USCA11 Case: 19-12708 Date Filed: 07/12/2022 Page: 1 of 22 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-12708 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus MICHAEL STAPLETON, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 9:14-cr-80151-DMM-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 19-12708 Date Filed: 07/12/2022 Page: 2 of 22 2 Opinion of the Court 19-12708 Before NEWSOM and MARCUS, Circuit Judges, and COVINGTON, ∗ District Judge. NEWSOM, Circuit Judge: Michael Stapleton appeals his conviction on 47 counts re- lated to his role in smuggling aliens into the United States. Staple- ton raises five discrete issues on appeal: (1) whether the Govern- ment’s delay in securing his extradition violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial; (2) whether the indictment was multiplic- itous and insufficiently specific; (3) whether the district court erro- neously admitted evidence of an uncharged alien-smuggling ven- ture and his sexual abuse of migrants; (4) whether the evidence was insufficient to convict on a charge of smuggling an alien previously convicted of an aggravated felony; and (5) whether the district court erred in applying sentencing enhancements because the Gov- ernment didn’t offer credible testimony supporting them. After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm. I Michael Stapleton was accused of being a “coyote” who ran an alien-smuggling operation out of the Bahamas. The Govern- ment charged him with 47 counts related to two alien-smuggling conspiracies involving migrant landings that occurred in South Florida in December 2012 and October 2013. Counts 1 and 2 of the ∗ Honorable Virginia Covington, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, sitting by designation. USCA11 Case: 19-12708 Date Filed: 07/12/2022 Page: 3 of 22 19-12708 Opinion of the Court 3 indictment each charged a conspiracy to encourage or induce an alien to enter the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) and (v)(I). Counts 3 through 24 charged sepa- rate counts of encouraging and inducing various aliens to enter the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) and (v)(II). Counts 25 through 46 charged separate counts of bringing or at- tempting to bring an alien into the United States for financial gain in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii). Count 47 charged Sta- pleton with aiding and assisting an inadmissible alien who had been convicted of an aggravated felony in entering the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1327. The indictment was filed on September 4, 2014, but Staple- ton wasn’t arrested until after the Government managed to secure his extradition when he traveled from Jamaica to Germany in May 2018. In the intervening years, the Government had explored the possibility of extraditing Stapleton from the Bahamas or Jamaica but hadn’t done so because those countries would have required first-person affidavits from every alien named in Stapleton’s indict- ment—a tall order after those 33 individuals had dispersed to loca- tions inside and outside the United …
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