United States v. Joseph Mark Couch

This case requires us to evaluate the border detention of an individual suspected of carrying illicit drugs within his body. Joseph Mark Couch was indicted for importation and possession of cocaine. Prior to trial, he moved to suppress x-rays of his abdominal region, and the cocaine eventually retrieved from his digestive system. The district court granted his suppression motion, finding that Couch’s airport detention of over nine hours was unreasonable, and that the affidavits supporting a court-ordered x-ray examination were insufficient to establish probable cause. The government appeals the suppression order, and we reverse.

FACTS

On March 4,1980, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) notified agent Donald Souza of the Los Angeles office of the Customs Service that several people would be attempting to smuggle cocaine into the United States from Lima, Peru by concealing the drug in their stomachs. The DEA received its information from a previously reliable confidential informant. One of the individuals mentioned in the scheme was the defendant and appellee, Joseph Couch.

The informant gave a specific description of the smuggling scheme. Couch and the other individuals…