United States v. Luis Francisco Contreras-Ceballos

Appellant Luis Francisco Contreras-Ce-ballos appeals his conviction on a narcotics charge. Contreras-Ceballos contends that the district court erred in refusing to transfer his ease from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska. He also maintains that the district court should have suppressed evidence seized in a search of his apartment because the officers executing the search warrant did not comply with the federal knock-and-announce statute.

We affirm.

BACKGROUND

In a search pursuant to a warrant, postal inspectors found a small amount of cocaine in a package addressed to Luis Ceballos. The inspectors resealed the package and handed it over to Contreras-Ceballos when he went to the post office to pick it up. Law enforcement officers monitoring Contreras-Ceballos later saw him enter his apartment with the package.

Having obtained a search warrant, a group of law enforcement officers comprising Alaska state troopers and United States postal inspectors, went to Contreras-Ceballos’s apartment. Alaska trooper Sergeant Wayne Bortz positioned himself closest to the door. Bortz listened for a moment and informed the other law enforcement officers that he could hear more than one voice inside…