Robert Young, 60, the South Florida drug smuggler, best known for his role as triggerman in the 1987 slaying of speedboat king Don Aronow, will likely spend the rest of his life in a federal prison.Young's previous three murder convictions, including Aronow's, were more than 20 years ago, court records show. None of the convictions landed him in prison for more than a few years.This conviction carries a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years and prosecutors could seek life.
Last week's trial was unusual because federal prosecutor Donald Chase accused Young of possessing a Norinco Sporter 7.62 semi-automatic rifle in 2002, when he was serving a 10-year federal sentence on a previous firearms conviction.
Chase told jurors Young maintained control and ownership of the weapon, though he left it with an associate prior to his October 2001 arrest."That's a new one," Young's attorney Paul Donnelly said in closing arguments. "He didn't have control. He didn't have possession. He didn't have access to it."But Chase countered Young discussed the gun in several phone calls he placed from prison, and wanted it used to execute his brother-in-law, who he thought was cooperating with law enforcement.Young's motive was simple, Chase stated in closing arguments: "He had a credo. 'You talk, you die.'"According to testimony at trial, Young ran a drug-trafficking organization, importing cocaine from Central and South America in a hidden compartment on his sailboat. Young obtained the Norinco rifle to protect a shipment of $1.2 million of drug proceeds headed to Guatemala, witnesses said.
In a 2004 interview with federal agents, Young admitted owning the gun but denied wanting his ex-wife's brother dead. He said he wanted the gun planted on Roderick "Rickie" Mudrie, a convicted felon, so he would be arrested.To convict, the jury had to agree Young kept possession of the gun in a legal sense through June 2002."I believe the jury blew it," Donnelly said of the verdict.
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