Fowlie Lawyers Say 9 Drug-Case Charges Invalid

Defense lawyers and prosecutors in the marijuana smuggling case against Daniel James Fowlie sparred in court Monday over whether Fowlie was being improperly charged with felonies that were not part of his extradition from Mexico.

Attorneys James Brustman and G. David Haigh argued before U.S. District Judge Alicemarie Stotler that their client was not extradited to the United States in July to face all 26 counts filed in 1987.

Haigh and Brustman say nine charges, including operating a continuing criminal enterprise and making illegal money transfers, have no equivalent in Mexican law, hence Fowlie cannot face such charges in the United States. They said the Mexican authorities returned Fowlie only to face the drug smuggling allegations.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Elana S. Artson contended that Fowlie’s extradition from a prison in La Paz in July was for all 26 counts--charges that she said are part of the U.S. extradition treaty with Mexico. She said the only way Fowlie could challenge the extradition was in a Mexican court.

Stotler began hearing arguments and taking testimony on Fowlie’s extradition order Monday at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana. The defense seeks to have the nine counts in question dismissed. Testimony resumes today.

According to a 32-page indictment, Fowlie, 57, is accused of income-tax evasion, distributing or intending to distribute about 53,000 pounds of marijuana, failing to report the shipment of hundreds of thousands of dollars overseas and operating a continuing criminal enterprise.

Investigators suspect that Fowlie operated one of the largest marijuana smuggling operations in the United States from 1982 to 1986, using rented warehouses in Orange County and Rancho del Rio, a 213-acre property on the Orange County-Riverside County line.