MIAMI (AP) - Two men charged with killing four crew members on a
fishing boat they chartered were ordered to remain held without bail
Tuesday, despite defense attorneys' insistence that no evidence linked
their clients to the crime.

Attorneys for Kirby Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo said there was no
weight to prosecutors' highlighting of inconsistencies in the
defendants' statements about what exactly happened aboard the 47-foot
"Joe Cool" last month.

The defendants also provided conflicting statements on how they met,
when they decided to charter a boat and the attire of pirates they
said were responsible for the killings. But their attorneys said it
was understandable.

"We're talking about horrendous, tragic events that happened on this
boat," said Allan Kaiser, an attorney for Archer, 35. "There is no
wonder that perceptions might differ."

In questioning the lead federal investigator on the case, Richard
Blais Jr., defense attorneys sought to further illuminate evidence
they have called thin.

Blais acknowledged he had no concrete proof that shell casings found
on the boat could be linked to a Glock 9mm magazine for which
detectives found a receipt. The investigator also said he had no proof
there was not another boat near the "Joe Cool" that might corroborate
the defendants' story that Cuban pirates came aboard and killed the
crew. And Blais said forensics tests on computers seized in the case
and on blood found on the boat were not completed.

"There is nothing that they have by way of physical evidence," said
Anthony Natale, an attorney for Zarabozo, 20. Faith Mesnekoff, another
attorney for Zarabozo, was more blunt: "The government is grabbing at
straws."

Still, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Banstra said the gravity of the
claims made it necessary to keep the suspects behind bars. They're due
back in court Thursday for an arraignment on federal murder charges.

It is no easy case for prosecutors, with no bodies, no murder weapon,
no witnesses and no confession. But they say the circumstantial
evidence tells the storCuba.

Missing and presumed dead are the captain, Jake Branam; his wife,
Kelley Branam; and crew members Scott Gamble and Samuel Kairy. The
Branams left behind two small children.

Archer had been charged in Arkansas with stealing more than $92,000
from a Batesville Wal-Mart where he had been a manager. Before he left
Arkansas in late January, Archer was under investigation for alleged
child molestation, according to the FBI affidavit.


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