United States v. Susan Jayne Shields

The only point appellant raises on this appeal from her conviction under 21 U. S.C. § 174 is that the border search in which the heroin was removed from her vagina violated the Fourth Amendment.

Appellant’s nervousness (reflected in an uncomfortable, rigid posture, high-pitched and strained voice, avoidance of the inspector’s eyes, and exaggerated emphasis upon the plaster of Paris souvenirs purchased across the border); the needle marks upon her arms, including one or two that were “seeping,” and hence only one to four hours old; similar marks upon her companion’s arms; and the shortness of their visit (one to one-and-a-half hours) were “objective, articulable facts that would reasonably lead an experienced, prudent customs official to suspect” that she was concealing contraband on her body. United States v. Guadalupe-Garza, 421 F.2d 876, 879 (9th Cir. 1970). Accordingly, a strip or skin search of appellant was justified by “a real suspicion, directed specifically to [appellant],” that she was carrying contraband. Henderson v. United States, 390 F.2d 805, 808 (9th Cir. 1967).

The search of a body cavity, however, must satisfy a more stringent test: Prior to such a search there…