United States v. Bob Maynard

Maynard was jointly indicted and tried with one Robert Fred Bishop, the indictment charging conspiracy to violate 21 U.S.C. § 176a. Both have appealed. We have affirmed the conviction of Bishop. United States v. Bishop, 9 Cir., 1971, 435 F.2d 1268 (1971). The facts of the case are stated in our opinion in Bishop’s case and we do not repeat them here.

On this appeal, Maynard contends that his arrest and the search of the suitcase that he was carrying were illegal. He moved to suppress the fruits of the search and this motion was denied. The records show that the information that the arresting officer had was slightly different from that to which Mrs. Ce-laya testified at the trial. His information was that there had been only one man at Mrs. Celaya’s store, that the man’s description fitted Maynard, and that it was Maynard who received the suitcase from the young Mexican who came down from the hill where there is a hole in the border fence. These differences do not, in our opinion, affect the question of probable cause.

The information that the officer had was sufficient at least to justify his stopping and questioning Maynard. If he did not then have probable cause to arrest, he…