United States v. John Steven Mayes

John Steven Mayes pleaded guilty to the offense of failing to register, when he reentered the United States from Mexico as a returning narcotic drug addict, such failure being in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1407 . He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to smuggle heroin, and smuggling heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 174 . Mayes was tried to the court without a jury on the latter charges and was found guilty. On April 5, 1967, a judgment of conviction was entered on the three charges, and sentences of five years each were imposed on the conspiracy to smuggle, and smuggling, charges, and one year on the failure to register charge, all to run concurrently. Mayes appeals from the convictions on all three charges.

Mayes was arrested at the border between 2:30 and 3:00 p. m. on September 21, 1966. He was booked at the county jail sometime after 8:35 p. m. that day, and was brought before a United States Commissioner the next morning. In the interim, Mayes was searched at the border office and at a hospital, and was interrogated at length. During this interval, and after receiving a partial Miranda-type warning and while admittedly under the influence of narcotics, Mayes…