Jupiter divers who freed sharks from fishing line may have their theft convictions overturned

WEST PALM BEACH — Two divers' decision to release sharks from a government-sanctioned fishing line ignited a fierce debate online over whether they were Good Samaritans or shameless thieves. Public outcry pushed the debate from internet chatrooms to a federal courthouse, where jurors decided the latter was true.

Almost two years later, the debate is playing out again in an appeals court where three judges have the power to overturn the divers' felony convictions for theft on the high seas. Their decision hinges on what it means to steal.

"When you're taking property to resolve an emergency — a life-or-death emergency, which the appellants were doing in this case — that is not stealing," Assistant U.S. Public Defender Andrew Adler said during a hearing in Miami this month.

Adler said the judge who oversaw John Moore Jr. and Tanner Mansell's criminal trial erred by refusing to define "steal" for jurors as taking someone else's property "with the intention to keep it" for their benefit or for other's. Had that definition been given instead of the broad one — purposefully taking something that isn't yours — Moore and Mansell would have been acquitted, Adler said.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judges did not immediately rule on whether to reverse the commercial divers' convictions. However, two voiced confusion over why the men were charged with a crime to begin with.

Judge Barbara Lagoa questioned prosecutors' claim that the men should have known the unattended line was one of about five legal shark-harvesting operations in the world. She noted also that Moore and Mansell called law enforcement several times to report the line, though no officer heeded the call.

"That's obviously evidence of people who like to commit theft," Lagoa told the prosecutor, her voice dry. "They like to call law enforcement, correct?"

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Colan replied: "If you tell them a false story, it is."

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Moore and Mansell have long said they believed they were thwarting a crime by releasing the sharks — not actively committing one. Unconvinced, Colan repeated the argument that Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald made to jurors during the divers' weeklong trial in 2022.

Moore and Mansell are commercial shark divers whose livelihoods depend on sharks in the water. It wasn't altruism that motivated them to free the sharks, pull the line ashore and leave it to be scavenged by passersby, the prosecutor said.

Colan didn't mention that Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Barry Partelow declined to investigate the longline immediately, and instead told Moore to leave it on the dock for him to collect later. By the time the officer finally returned, the three-mile line had been picked clean of its hardware and loaded into a dumpster at the order of the harbor master.

The gear alone cost the vessel owner about $1,300, Colan said, and the value of the lost sharks amounted to several thousand more. Tourists aboard Moore and Mansell’s boat testified that the men believed they were doing the right thing by confiscating the fishing gear and releasing the sharks snagged by its hooks.

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“A legitimate concern for wildlife should never result in people facing felony charges,” wrote one of the divers’ supporters, who helped fundraise about $28,000 for Moore and Mansell through a GoFundMe page launched prior to their conviction. A GoFundMe page in support of the Fort Pierce fisherman whose equipment was destroyed helped raise about $4,500.

The jury's guilty verdict appeared to come after much back and forth in the deliberation room. They mulled over the evidence for three days, at times asking federal Judge Donald Middlebrooks for help.

“Not unanimous. Cannot get there. How should we proceed?” wrote the jury foreman in a note to the judge.

Continue deliberating, Middlebrooks wrote back. Could he define the word “mistake”? the foreman asked. No, Middlebrooks responded.

After another note in which the foreman said the jury was “still very divided,” Middlebrooks issued a formal letter imploring them to press on anyway.

Finally, and to the defense attorneys’ dismay, the jurors agreed: Moore and Mansell had intended to steal the fishing gear.

Moore and Mansell faced up to five years in federal prison and as much as $250,000 in fines after jurors convicted them of theft in December 2022. Middlebrooks spared them from both, sentencing the men to one year of probation and about $3,345 in repayment to the fisherman whose sharks they freed.

Marc Seitles, who represented Moore during the criminal trial and continues to represent him through the appeal, said he was pleased with this month’s hearing before the appeals court judges. If they reverse the divers’ conviction, it will be up to the U.S. Attorney's Office to decide whether to try the case again or drop the charges entirely.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Appeals court may overturn divers' theft conviction for freeing sharks