United States v. Al Nasser

FACTS

A Border Patrol agent was patrolling a stretch of highway running north from the Mexican border in Arizona through the Tohono O’odham Nation Indian reservation. He stopped a pickup truck (not the car driven by the defendant, Al Nas- ser) around nine at night which he suspected was carrying illegal aliens. It turned out that there were no illegal aliens in the truck, but there was alcohol, which was illegal on that part of the reservation. The Border Patrol agent called the Tohono O’odham Nation Police Department, which sent a tribal police officer to take charge of the alcohol violators. The other Border Patrol agent working on that stretch of highway came too.

Meanwhile, a sedan (also not driven by Al Nasser) drove toward the spot where the pickup truck, tribal police vehicle, and two Border Patrol vehicles were stopped. The Border Patrol agent shined his flashlight at the sedan so he would be seen, despite the darkness and his dark clothing. When he did, he saw people hiding in the back seat (he is six feet nine inches tall, and had a good view down toward the floor of the 1 Judge Ferguson dissented in our earlier decision in this case, United States v. Al Nasser, 479…