People v. Superior Court

By this proceeding in mandate pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5, subdivision (o), the People seek to vacate an order to the extent it grants a defense motion to suppress evidence. The court order suppressed the contents of envelopes seized from defendant’s automobile and later opened at a police station.

The material facts, adduced at the hearing on the suppression motion, are not in dispute. On April 20, 1981, Thailand National Police intercepted seven envelopes mailed in Thailand bearing one of three Los Angeles addresses (none bearing defendant’s name) and one of two Bangkok return addresses in similar handwriting. The envelopes are business size, white airmail envelopes with red and blue striped borders. The police discovered heroin in the envelopes and turned them over to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Bangkok with advisement as to their contents. The DEA in Bangkok forwarded the envelopes to the DEA in Washington, D.C., which in turn forwarded the envelopes to the United States Customs Service in Los Angeles. The envelopes were there opened for the first time by United States authorities by an officer of the Customs Service on or about May…