United States v. Albert Portugal Sanchez, United States of America v. Jimmy Dean Nolan
Opinion
Opinion
Poole, J.
Appellants Albert Sanchez and Jimmy Nolen challenge their convictions for possession with intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to distribute marijuana on the basis that evidence obtained through the use of a forward looking infrared device (FLIR) was improperly admitted at their trial. We affirm.
FACTS
On November 1, 1984, at 6:00 p.m., U.S. Customs pilot James McCawley took off from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona, in a twin engine Cessna Citation jet equipped with a FLIR. He was accompanied by a FLIR operator.
McCawley was following an unidentified single engine Cessna Highwind which was traveling north towards Casa Grande, Ari zona. He could make out the other plane visually until it turned off its lights and made a 180-degree turn. McCawley and the FLIR operator lost contact with the plane for about 10 to 15 minutes, but the plane was being tracked simultaneously by Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Radar, which directed the Customs officers back into FLIR contact with the plane just as it was landing.
After the plane landed, McCawley circled overhead at an elevation of 5,000 feet for about 10 minutes. He could see nothing with his own eyes; with the…