Two Priests Sentenced In Boatlift Case
Episcopal News Service. January 28, 1982 [82020]
MIAMI (DPS, Jan. 28) -- Barring a successful appeal, the Rev. Leopold Frade and the Rev. Joe Doss owe the U.S. government $1,000 each and will have to talk to a probation officer regularly for the next six months following their sentencing Jan. 25 in federal District Court here.
The sentence -- which could have been 10 years in jail and $50,000 -- was characterized by the Miami Herald as an example of "the judge's mercy" for the two Episcopal priests whose vessel "God's Mercy" brought more than 400 Cubans to the United States after the boatlift was canceled in 1980 by President Carter.
A zealous Reagan administration Justice Department dredged up a 1917 enemy trade act and undertook a vigorous prosecution designed to make an example of the two priests.
At the sentencing, Judge Edward B. Davis conceded he could find no evidence of profiteering -- a key government allegation -- but told the two that "Congress and the executive branch cannot allow private citizens" to make foreign policy. He went on to state that Miami had suffered "incalculable damage" from the boatlift for which he maintained Cuban Premier Castro emptied his jails.
All of the refugees Doss and Frade brought in had sponsors awaiting them and none are known to have found themselves in the notorious and volatile camps, forts and jails to which the judge referred.
At the sentencing hearing Frade told the court that they had "no regrets" and "slept well." They were guilty, he said, only "of relying on our government." Doss called the prosecution tactics "base and unamerican" and the two-week trial a "dark moment in judicial history."
The mild sentence suggests that the judge did not disagree entirely with those contentions, but the two pastors have already said they will appeal. The conviction leaves them with felony records.
Before handing down sentence Davis listened to appeals from the two supported by a statement from Presiding Bishop John M. Allin, diocesan Bishop Calvin 0. Schofield and numerous other priests who have followed the trial. Allin, who asked that no sentence or fine be imposed, called the prosecution and conviction "regrettable." He, Schofield, the House of Bishops, the Executive Council and elected lay leaders of the Church have been consistent in their personal support for the two men.