According to Piazza, the records documented purchases from fish farms other than the Silver Streak Bass Company and would have demonstrated that Piazza purchased more hybrid striped bass than he sold between June 30 and July 31, 1993. In determining whether this evidence establishes that Mayne lacked probable cause to believe that Piazza violated § 327(A), we are guided by the Louisiana state courts' decisions in
Piazza I and
II. It appears to us that the presence or absence of a discrepancy between purchases and sales is only marginally relevant to the question of whether a violation of § 327(A) occurred, as defined by those courts on the circumstances present here. In
Piazza II, the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision to reverse Piazza's conviction turned on its finding that (1) the July 21 purchase was large enough to account for the entire July 27 shipment, and (2) Piazza had rebutted the State's weak evidence that the seized fish appeared “too fresh” to have belonged to the July 21 purchase with testimony regarding his techniques for preserving the fish.
See Piazza II, 668 So.2d at 1128. Indeed, the supreme court found that the evidence proving that no discrepancy existed merely served to
corroborate the evidence of critical import: Piazza's testimony that the fish from the July 27 shipment originated from the July 21 purchase.
See id. In
Piazza I, moreover, the Louisiana Court of Appeal utterly failed to mention the records of in-state purchases that accounted for the discrepancy between sales and purchases when discussing the trial court's conclusion that the seized fish were not part of the July 21 shipment, and thus not imported aquaculturally raised fish falling under an exception to § 327(A).
See Piazza I, 655 So.2d at 1367. These decisions illustrate that the determination of whether or not Piazza violated § 327(A) hinged on evidence establishing that the hybrid striped bass had been purchased from an out-of-state fish farm, rather than evidence establishing that Piazza had purchased as much fish as he sold during a particular period.