HELENA STAR – an Epic Adventure Through the Murky Underworld of International Drug Smuggling, Stewart Riley, Robert D. Reed Publishers, 2021, 228 pages, $17.95
I was never known for having a great bedside manner when meeting with clients. I wasn’t going to be their social worker. Some attorneys in my view get too close to their clients. I tried to avoid that. I was not their friend. I was their lawyer. Becoming good friends with one’s client eliminates perspective and may color one’s objectivity. I was not about to invite a client home for dinner while his future was in my hands, even my white-collar clients.
Under cover of dark on 4 April 1978, the Joli, a sleek electric blue 61-foot racing yacht with swollen sails gracing its 90-foot masts is rapidly, perhaps too rapidly, headed towards the nearly exhausted 161-foot freighter, the M/V Helena Star, in the high seas of the North Pacific, some 70 miles off the coast of Washington State and British Columbia. As the skipper of the Joli approached the Helena Star, it becomes obvious that the purpose of the rendezvous – offloading “Colombian Gold” – is too dangerous at that location; calmer waters were needed to compensate for the incompatibility of the two vessels for offloading the precious and very illegal cargo. Nearly two weeks later, the US Coast Guard would board and seize the Helena Star about 140 miles from the coast of Washington State laden with 37 tons of marijuana, valued at the time at around $74 million.
Enter Stewart Riley for the defense for Helena Star Captain Roman Rubies. The subtitle may seem like a plot-spoiler, but this little gem is about much more – an intriguing story that entertains as much as it instructs us defense lawyers.
Blue chip criminal defense lawyer Stewart Riley, who makes his home in Seattle, is the real deal. He is a masterful trial lawyer with a career that has ranged from the most mundane to the most complex of cases, both nationally and internationally. His superb sense of strategic and tactical and ethical thinking comes through as he recounts his involvement in this case as a relatively young lawyer amidst celebrated and high-priced lawyers, of whom some would ethically run afoul, and/or prove to be less than the reputation that preceded them.
Perhaps because I find Riley sympatico in his approach to defending I enjoyed reading HELENA STAR. But there is more to it. He is a wonderful raconteur, weaving details with background color and side-bits that move the plot along at a rapid clip, luring the reader on with anticipation. It might also be because of the dramatis personae such as champion freestyle skier Mike Lund, former president of outdoor clothing and gear giant Eddie Bauer, William Niemi, Jr. (who owned a famous racing sailboat involved in offloading some of the marijuana not seized), a host of then, or to be, high-profile lawyers including Robert Moran, Charles O. Morgan of San Fransisco, Ivan Fisher of New York, Tony Savage, Larry Finegold, Irwin Scwartz, Rick Troberman of Seattle, tenacious prosecutors such as Bill Hogan, and legendary judges such as US District Court Judges Walter McGovern and Donald Voorhees.
During my years of practice in Alaska and teaching trial advocacy at various programs, I had the privilege to cross paths with many of the characters from the legal community involved in this epic adventure. Coming across some of the names brought back fond memories.
Looking back and with much distance and detachment, it now seems even clearer how sometimes the loudest in and out of the courtroom are often compensating for a lack of talent and/or preparation, often living on media hype and self-generated fame, while quality lawyers such as Riley, are like mice with a block of cheese just munching away, methodically, incrementally, relentlessly, creatively, ethically. Having zeroed in on a theory of the case based on a thorough and objective evaluation of the available evidence and a commanding understanding of the law, these quality lawyers flexibly engage in well-thought-out strategies and tactics that only comes with experience and a healthy ego that places client over fame, diligence over flamboyance, and humility over arrogance.
Tracing the route of the weed-filled Helena Star from South America to where it was seized off Washington State, Riley expertly sets the stage, introducing the reader to the captain, the crew, and others, most notably the athletic and talented and extravagant Mike Lund. But as captivating as this may be, and it is captivating, what follows is a fascinating series of unexpected twists and turns, as Riley introduces the characters with scintillating morsels, and takes us through an Odyssean legal journey that would last nearly a quarter of a century.
I won’t give away the plot, certainly not the ending. But I will mention one thing that attests to Riley’s resourcefulness and diligence, which, in no small measure, can be seen throughout his brilliant and tenacious representation of Captain Rubies. As much as he appreciates detachment and eschews friendship with his clients, Riley exudes empathy and attentiveness, leaving no stone unturned, chasing legal issues down the rabbit hole, exhaustively making the record, unrelentingly pursuing every conceivable and available avenue to its very end, and beyond.
When the US Coast Guard boarded the Helena Star it was in international waters. After unsuccessful efforts to identify its ownership, it was presumed stateless and thus permissible under international law for the US Coast Guard to board it and search its cargo. Whether the US Coast Guard had gotten all its ducks in a row for such a boarding was not as clear. At least so it seemed to Riley, who was familiar with the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Hight Seas. By serendipity some eight years earlier, Riley had authored a treatise on the law of the sea, titled The Legal Implications of the Sea Use Program, published in 1970 in the Marine Technology Society Journal. So, what seemed like an indefensible case just might have a dispositive jurisdictional issue. Riley ran with this issue till there was no more room to run.
Though Riley would not prevail on this argument, it was a solid legal issue that could have gone his way. One thing is certain, Riley thoroughly vetted and imposed upon the courts to carefully consider this jurisdictional issue. As one who harps during trainings about due diligence and making the record, it was a sheer delight to read Riley’s account of his strategy, tactics, and perseverance. And not just on this issue, but on the case as a whole. He might lack good bedside manners, as he admits, but the meticulousness with which he represented Captain Rubies is as exemplary as it is inspirational.
I highly recommend HELENA STAR – an epic adventure worthy of a Netflix mini-series.
About Author
When it comes to running every possible jurisdictional issue to the ground, and making a record, I can personally testify that you most certainly know whereof you speak.