Nonie Tenorio v. United States

In a jury trial, appellant Tenorio was found guilty of having unlawfully imported approximately two ounces of heroin into the United States, a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 174 . Having waived indictment, the appellant was prosecuted under an information which charged that he, together with his brother, a codefendant in the court below, “contrary to law, knowingly imported and brought approximately two (2) ounces of heroin, a narcotic drug, into the United States * * It is here claimed, for the first time, that the information was fatally defective.

Appellant and his brother were the only two occupants of an automobile which entered the United States from Mexico on August 9, 1966. When the automobile came to the border from the Mexican side, an immigration inspector requested that its trunk be opened. After appellant opened the trunk, the officer requested that the vehicle be driven to a secondary inspection station. Notwithstanding the request, the automobile was driven away at a rapid speed. A witness observed the vehicle as it was driven into a parking lot in the border town of San Luis, Arizona. This witness testified that from a distance of “not over 50 yards” he observed the…