United States v. Luciano Abreu Miranda

Luciano Abreu Miranda appeals from his conviction, on a jury verdict, of smuggling 143 pounds of marihuana into the United States from Mexico on January 16, 1969, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 176a.

Defendant’s only point on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress the marihuana seized as a result of a search of his automobile, and in thereafter receiving evidence pertaining to the marihuana.

An immigration and customs checkpoint is maintained about eighteen miles north of Oceanside, California. This checkpoint is therefore sixty or seventy miles north of the Mexican border and about one-half mile from the Pacific Ocean. On January 16, 1969, Bruce R. Stock, a border patrolman apparently operating out of that checkpoint, stopped defendant in his 1968 Chevrolet automobile on Interstate 5, not far from the checkpoint. Stock was searching for aliens not lawfully admitted into the United States.

Stock questioned defendant and the latter presented a form 1-151, identifying himself as a lawfully-immigrated alien. For the purpose of determining whether an alien was hidden under the hood of the automobile, Stock requested Miranda to open the hood.…