UNITED STATES v. LEE ( Jamaica provided wire tap info)

Defendant-appellant Stephen Lee (“Lee” or “defendant”), an American citizen, appeals from a February 3, 2012 amended judgment of conviction entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Allyne R. Ross, Judge ). In this appeal we consider: (1) whether the District Court erred in denying Lee’s motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to wiretap orders executed against him abroad by a Jamaican law enforcement agency where that agency had a close and ongoing collaboration with its United States counterpart; and (2) whether the District Court erred in denying Lee’s motion to compel the application materials and other documentation underlying those foreign wiretap orders. –

Selected excerpts

The MOU likewise contemplated that the Jamaican government would provide the fruits of wiretaps to the United States in a format (i.e., on a disc) that the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) could use as evidence in American courts. –

 

During the course of a subsequent investigation, which took place from October 2006 to February 2009, Jamaican authorities, with authorization from that country’s Supreme Court, intercepted wire communications on several telephones in Jamaica. Lee was not a target of this surveillance, but he was captured speaking about drug shipments to individuals in Jamaica who were targets.

Jay’s comments, I wonder who were the target and what became of this target?  It would appear the Americans were not interested in the target, but Jamaica did. The Americans got their man, did Jamaica get it’s man .

Lee claims that the close, ongoing, and formalized collaboration between the DEA and VU rendered the latter “virtual agents” of American law enforcement in the context of the parallel investigations. Appellant’s Br. 58. We disagree. A review of the record makes clear that, while the United States and Jamaica agreed on several measures designed to facilitate collaboration and cooperation in transnational drug investigations, the Jamaican investigation of Lee was an independent undertaking by a foreign sovereign. Indeed, Jamaican law enforcement officials (1) initiated their investigation into the marijuana trafficking organization with which Lee was associated before the DEA commenced its investigation; and (2) did not solicit the views, much less approval, of DEA agents prior to conducting surveillance. Moreover, DEA agents were likewise not involved in the actual interception or translation, from Jamaican dialect, of the conversations at issue. Nor did the DEA make a formal request that Jamaican authorities conduct surveillance on Lee or other members of the marijuana trafficking organization. –

Who were the targets and did Jamaica get their target ???

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1633667.html#sthash.HYDcC7gW.dpuf