United States v. Luis Beltran-Rios

Beltran-Rios was convicted of importation of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. He appeals the conviction, contending that the district court erred in allowing the Government to introduce expert testimony describing the “profile” characteristics of drug couriers, and that the jury instruction on the elements of Beltran’s duress defense was erroneous. We affirm.

I.

FACTS

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on February 16, 1988, Luis Beltran-Rios entered the pedestrian inspection area of the Calexico, California Port of Entry. Customs Agent Donald Hylton performed a pat-down search of Beltran and found three small packages of heroin in Beltran’s shoes. Bel-tran was placed under arrest, and was questioned by Customs and DEA agents. During the course of this questioning, Bel-tran gave several conflicting explanations for the presence of heroin in his shoes.

On February 22,1988, a two count indictment was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, charging Beltran with violations of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 , 960 (importation of a controlled substance) and 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) (possession of a…