Law Tales #9 The Case of the Foolish Drug Smuggler

I would have thought drug smugglers were clever, planned their buys and routes carefully, and would do anything they could to avoid notice. However, Rex's case taught me otherwise.

I represented Rex (not his real name) on federal drug trafficking charges. He was a good old boy from Arkansas and always wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Rex was tall and the women in my office swooned over him.

Rex had flown across the country with his partner to buy a large quantity of meth, which he intended to fly back home. The buy wasn't in our city, but a neighboring state. I didn't understand why he didn't just fly to that state directly, and he never really explained.

Rex and his partner rented a flashy convertible sports car to get to the buy. The buy was at a sleazy run down motel in a small town along the interstate a few hours away. They conducted the buy with some Mexican drug dealers and then turned around to drive back to my city with the kilo of meth in the trunk.

Even though the interstate was crowded, they drove at high speed, weaving in and out of traffic. Soon after they crossed the state line, a highway patrol officer pulled them over.

As part of the traffic stop, the officer requested consent to search the car. Rex and his buddy agreed. The officer found nothing, issued the ticket, and then told them they were free to go.

After this, the officer asked to search the car again, and Rex and his buddy agreed, no matter that the officer had already told them they could go. This time the officer found the meth in the trunk.

Rex and his buddy were both arrested. Rex received federal charges and his buddy state charges. Rex hired my firm to represent him.

We soon found out that a state and federal task force had been monitoring the sleazy motel along the interstate where the buy went down. Federal officers had documented them going into the motel, leaving with the drugs, and then crossing state lines. The traffic stop was never really a traffic stop, as the officer knew they were transporting drugs. The task force just wanted them to cross state lines first.

Rex was screwed. When offered a deal to testify and receive a reduced sentence, he jumped on it. He was even able to go back home while awaiting his time to testify.

And then one day we received a phone call that Rex was dead. He has been killed with a double tap (one to the head, one to the chest) in what looked to be a professional hit.

Rex seemed to have been a nice enough guy but smart he wasn't.

I didn't feel too bad for him. He made his choices and paid for his mistakes. But still, I was a bit surprised.