United States v. Wilbert Gomez and Nelson Zahriya

We consider whether the district court properly found that appellants voluntarily consented to a police search of their luggage.

Facts

On April 14, 1987, Los Angeles Police Department Detectives Mártin, May and Farrant detained and questioned Rinaldo Ortiz and appellant Wilbert Gomez on the sidewalk in front of the Eastern Airlines Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. Gomez and Ortiz had just arrived from Miami, Florida, in the company of a third individual, Ms. Holloway. Gomez, a TWA flight steward, had three pieces of luggage; a consensual search revealed that they were empty except for a TWA uniform.

Detectives Farrant and May located Holloway in the Eastern Airlines boarding area. A consensual search of her carry-on luggage yielded three used airline tickets in the names of Ortiz, Gomez and Holloway, and four additional tickets with boarding passes in the names of those three individuals and Nelson Zahriya. The tickets were for travel later that evening to Chicago.

Meanwhile, Detective Martin remained with Ortiz and Gomez in front of the terminal. When Ortiz became loud and boisterous and allegedly attempted to walk away, Martin placed him in handcuffs. Ortiz…