Cato Expert Discusses Presidential Pardons for Moore and Mansell

John Moore’s and Tanner Mansell’s unwitting involvement with the criminal justice system finally came to an end in the form of a presidential pardon. Their prosecution defies common sense and illustrates what happens when courts persistently neglect to enforce safeguards painstakingly designed to discourage ill-conceived prosecutions and prevent palpably unjust convictions.

While leading a diving charter off the coast of South Florida in 2020, Moore and Mansell stumbled across an abandoned fishing line they believed to be the work of poachers. They reacted in a responsible manner: They hauled in the line, released the entangled sharks, and brought the rig back to the marina after notifying state officials.

Little did they know that they’d stumbled on a bona fide research project. They’d soon discover their mistake when the Department of Justice tried to send them to prison. Their crime: “stealing” the line they hauled in and left on the dock.

Unfortunately, due to erroneous and incomplete jury instructions, all the government had to prove was that Moore and Mansell took the lines. The jury reluctantly returned a guilty verdict after agonizing over the case for longer than the entire trial. The protracted deliberation was punctuated by seven notes to the judge, practically begging for a way to acquit.

This case should never have been brought. But it was. A properly instructed jury would have acquitted Moore and Mansell. But the jury was neither cognizant of their historic injustice preventing role nor the commonly understood conception of “theft.” A conscientious court of appeals would have reversed. But the panel demurred.

Earlier this month, I testified before the House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee on Overcriminalization. In my testimony, I alluded to this case as a textbook example of overzealous prosecution and the system’s persistent refusal to fully apprise juries of their historical power—and duty—to prevent injustice.

When good intentions are met with an iron fist, the public loses faith in our criminal justice system. A system unable to differentiate between criminal intent and actions born of a genuine, albeit mistaken, belief in doing good deserves neither our confidence nor our support.

I commend President Trump for pardoning these goodhearted mariners, who can finally move on with their lives. But many more victims of rampant overcriminalization and vindicative prosecutions lurk in the shadows.