United States v. Johns

707 F.2d 1093 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Lyle Gerald JOHNS, Dennis Eugene Hearron, Manuel Jesus Duarte, Carlos Torres Leon, Jose Oros Soto, Roberto Leon Gomez, and John Lizaraga Redmond, Defendants-Appellees. No. 82-1080. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Nov. 12, 1982. Decided June 10, 1983. L. Anthony Fines, William Walker, Tucson, Ariz., for defendants-appellees. Eugene R. Bracamonte, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tucson, Ariz., for plaintiff-appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Before TRASK, ANDERSON, and CANBY, Circuit Judges. CANBY, Circuit Judge. 1 United States Customs Officers seized securely wrapped packages of marijuana from two covered pickup trucks and, three days later, opened the packages without a warrant. The trial court granted the defendants' motion to suppress the evidence. The government appeals, raising several possible exceptions to the warrant requirement. We conclude that this warrantless search violated the Fourth Amendment and accordingly, we affirm. FACTS 2 After midnight on Tuesday, August 4, 1981, customs officers, suspecting that a drug transaction might…