Moises Rivas v. United States

This is an appeal from the two count conviction of appellant (a) of the unlawful importation of narcotics, and (b) of the unlawful concealment of narcotics, knowingly brought into the United States in violation of law. ( 21 U.S.C. § 174 ). The “narcotic” was twenty-nine Percodan tablets. Appellant was sentenced to two five-year concurrent sentences, with a recommendation for treatment for narcotic addiction, and for vocational training.

Jurisdiction existed below pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231 , and exists here under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 , 1294.

Two errors are charged by appellant One is in the instructions relating to the alleged narcotic; the second is the introduction into evidence of alleged narcotics obtained through an unlawful search of appellant’s rectum.

We first consider the lawfulness of the search. The legal question presented is whether the search here made of appellant’s rectum goes so far beyond the limits defined by previous decisions in this troubled area, that the search became unlawful as violative of the reasonableness required by Article IV of the Amendments to our United States Constitution.

This issue was raised in a timely manner below, and a hearing on…