United States v. Jesus Perez, Benjamin Ascencion Marquez and Salomon De La Garza-Garza

The defendants were charged with importing heroin, possession of heroin and conspiracy. The district court denied a motion to suppress the heroin, which was found by government agents when they searched a truck after stopping the defendants. The government did not allege that its agents had probable cause to search the truck. The court ruled, however, that the search was valid either because it was an extended border search or because it was conducted with the truck owner’s consent. We must reverse the court’s decision in both respects. On the record before us, however, there is doubt whether the defendants had a legitimate expectation o'f privacy with regard to the truck, so that an illegal search of it would violate their fourth amendment rights. Because this issue was not addressed in district court, we therefore remand for further proceedings to determine whether the defendants’ fourth amendment rights were violated by the search of the truck.

FACTS

On October 17,1979, defendant Perez entered the United. States at Nogales, Arizona. Perez appeared nervous so the customs inspector requested identification. He used this information to trace Perez through the Treasury…