Opinion ID: 386047
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Search of the Package

Text: 13 Richards does not challenge the admissibility of evidence obtained from the initial search of the package in New York and the field test that first disclosed its contents. He stipulated that the package contained heroin when searched in New York and that the chain of custody between New York and Miami Springs was complete. Because the initial test did not establish the quantity of heroin in the package, however, the second search was crucial to proving his intent to distribute. 14
15 The question of Richards' standing to contest the search was not raised in the court below. On appeal the government argued proleptically that the Supreme Court decision in Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978), foretold the coming demise of the concept of automatic standing for possessory crimes. In United States v. Salvucci, --- U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 2547, 65 L.Ed.2d 619 (1980), the Court followed the intimations of Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. at 135 n.4, 99 S.Ct. at 426 n.4, 58 L.Ed.2d at 396 n.4, and Brown v. United States, 411 U.S. 223, 229, 93 S.Ct. 1565, 1568-69, 36 L.Ed.2d 208, 214 (1973), and held that automatic standing does not justify the assertion of fourth amendment protection. 16 Fourth amendment protection is accorded only to a person who has a privacy interest in the area searched, Rawlings v. Kentucky, --- U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 65 L.Ed.2d 633 (1980), Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978), a rubric adopted from a phrase used in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 353, 88 S.Ct. 507, 512, 19 L.Ed.2d 576, 583 (1967). Instead of conducting a separate inquiry into standing, we now focus directly on whether the defendant possesses a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched. Rawlings v. Kentucky, --- U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 65 L.Ed.2d 633 (1980); Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). 17 The package was sealed and addressed to Mehling, which, in effect, was Richards. These facts alone indicate an expectation that the contents would remain free from public examination. United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 11, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 2483, 53 L.Ed.2d 538, 548 (1977). See generally Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. at 352, 88 S.Ct. at 511-12, 19 L.Ed.2d at 582. Moreover, sealed mail historically has been considered to have a high degree of privacy, and government intrusion into mailed parcels is limited by the fourth amendment. See United States v. Van Leeuwen, 397 U.S. 249, 90 S.Ct. 1029, 25 L.Ed.2d 282 (1970); Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 24 L.Ed. 877 (1878). 18 Although the Supreme Court has rejected the importation into search and seizure law of arcane distinctions evolved in property law, Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. at 149-50 n.17, 99 S.Ct. at 434, n.17, 58 L.Ed.2d at 405 n.17, we note that Richards was in lawful possession of the package when it was seized. Cf. Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. at 153, 99 S.Ct. at 435, 58 L.Ed.2d at 407 (Powell, J., concurring) (property rights reflect society's explicit recognition of a person's authority to act as he wishes in certain areas, and therefore should be considered in determining whether an individual's expectations of privacy are reasonable). It is, therefore, not dispositive that Richards denied ownership of the package. Considering all the circumstances, we conclude that he had a legitimate expectation that the contents of the package were private, 1 and has standing to assert fourth amendment protection.
19 Under the fourth amendment, all warrantless searches and seizures are unreasonable except those conducted in a few narrowly defined situations where the circumstances justifying the search outweigh privacy rights. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971); United States v. Sink, 586 F.2d 1041 (5th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 443 U.S. 912, 99 S.Ct. 3102, 61 L.Ed.2d 876 (1979). Because the fourth amendment expressly prohibits only unreasonable warrantless searches, it patently incorporates a balancing test, weighing in one measure the level of intrusion into individual privacy and in the other the public interest to be served. United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 555, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 3081, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116, 1126-1127 (1976); United States v. Himmelwright, 551 F.2d 991, 994 (5th Cir.) cert. denied, 434 U.S. 902, 98 S.Ct. 298, 54 L.Ed.2d 189 (1977). Thus, a warrantless search is justified when it is incident to a lawful arrest, Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); when it is conducted with probable cause under exigent circumstances, Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966); when it involves a vehicle, Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); or when it is made for administrative purposes to satisfy a special governmental need and necessity outweighs the invasion entailed, Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). 20 Warrantless searches may also be made at the border. These searches, undertaken pursuant to the historical right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are deemed reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border. United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606, 97 S.Ct. 1972, 52 L.Ed.2d 617 (1977); Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). This sovereign right was recognized by the First Congress, Act of July 31, 1789, ch. 5, 1 Stat. 29 (1789), and statutes exempting border searches from warrant and probable cause requirements have been in force in this country ever since. 2 21 A border search need not take place at the actual border. It may be conducted at a place considered the functional equivalent of the border, such as the port where a ship docks in this country after entering our territorial waters from abroad, United States v. Prince, 491 F.2d 655 (5th Cir. 1974), or the airport where an international flight lands, United States v. Klein, 592 F.2d 909 (5th Cir. 1979). 22 While the mere fact that a person or thing has once crossed the border does not sanction a search of it forever after, we have also recognized that the need to protect personality and property against warrantless invasion must be balanced against the myriad difficulties facing customs and immigration officials who are charged with the enforcement of smuggling and immigration laws. We have, therefore, recognized in the doctrine of extended border search, the government's power, under certain circumstances, to search without a warrant persons and things after they have entered the country. 3 23 Various panels of this court have described the requisites for a warrantless extended border search in terms that are not reconcilable. At its most permissive, the standard has been phrased as requiring only a reasonable suspicion of a customs agent if the search occurs in the border area. See, e. g., United States v. Hill, 430 F.2d 129, 130-31 (5th Cir. 1970). We have also phrased the standard as requiring either direct contact or nexus with the border area coupled with a reasonable suspicion of secreted contraband. See, e. g., United States v. Salinas, 439 F.2d 376, 379 (5th Cir. 1971); United States v. Bowman, 502 F.2d 1215, 1219 (5th Cir. 1974). 24 On several occasions, however, this court has exacted stricter criteria and has required the government to show both a likelihood that the person or thing has crossed the border and reasonable certainty that any contraband discovered by the search was present when the border was crossed. See, e. g., United States v. Fogelman, 586 F.2d 337 (5th Cir. 1978); United States v. Martinez, 481 F.2d 214 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 931, 94 S.Ct. 1444, 39 L.Ed.2d 489 (1974). Because the primary justification for the relaxation of fourth amendment standards in these situations is the crossing of a border, these constraints are warranted and the less exacting standards of Hill, Salinas, and Bowman have been criticized. See, e. g., Note, From Bags to Body Cavities: The Law of Border Search, 74 Colum.L.Rev. 53, 60-61 (1974); 3 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment 298 (1978). 25 In United States v. Johnson, 588 F.2d 147 (5th Cir. 1979), this court rejected the bare requirement of border nexus as being inconsistent with the decision of the Supreme Court in Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 93 S.Ct. 2535, 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973), and held that (a) search is not a valid border search unless it appears by a preponderance of the evidence, direct or circumstantial, that a border crossing has occurred. United States v. Johnson, 588 F.2d at 154 (footnote omitted). 26 The government must also be able to show, with reasonable certainty, that conditions remained unchanged from the time of the border crossing until the subsequent warrantless search. United States v. Fogelman, 586 F.2d 337, 343 (5th Cir. 1978); Cf. United States v. Walters, 591 F.2d 1195, 1198 (5th Cir. 1979) (extended border search doctrine, requiring unchanged conditions, applied to strip search). In other words, it must be established with reasonable certainty that, when searched, the person or thing was in the same condition as when the border was crossed. This requirement is usually met by proving either that the object searched was subject to constant surveillance from the time it crossed the border or that, under the circumstances, the contraband was not likely to have been introduced during any breaks in the surveillance. See, e. g., United States v. Martinez, 481 F.2d 214, 218-19 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 931, 94 S.Ct. 1444, 39 L.Ed.2d 489 (1974) (35 minute break in surveillance held insufficient to establish changed circumstances in view of the fact that it took the authorities two hours to unload the 628 pounds of marijuana hidden in a secret compartment of a truck). Finally, before conducting a warrantless extended border search, the government agents must possess a reasonable suspicion, supported by articulable facts, that the person or thing searched is involved in illegal activity, such as smuggling contraband. 4 United States v. Kenney, 601 F.2d 211, 213 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Martinez, 481 F.2d 214, 219 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 931, 94 S.Ct. 1444, 39 L.Ed.2d 489 (1974). 27 There appears to be no sound reason to distinguish between incoming mail and other property that crosses our border. Affixing a postage stamp to a parcel should not grant it immunity that would not be accorded a package carried by a traveller. 5 In United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606, 97 S.Ct. 1972, 52 L.Ed.2d 617 (1977), the Supreme Court held that a search by custom officials of incoming international letter-class mail without a warrant was constitutionally permissible. While the Court reserved the question of the validity of such a search if conducted at a point distant from the border, 431 U.S. at 615 n.11, 97 S.Ct. at 1978, n.11, 52 L.Ed.2d at 626 n.11, it rejected the argument that mail should be treated differently from and receive more constitutional protection than incoming persons or vehicles: It is clear that there is nothing in the rationale behind the border-search exception which suggests that the mode of entry will be critical. 431 U.S. at 620, 97 S.Ct. at 1980, 52 L.Ed.2d at 629. The critical fact is that the envelopes cross the border and enter this country, not that they are brought in by some mode of transportation rather than another. It is their entry into this country from without it that makes a resulting search 'reasonable.'  431 U.S. at 620, 97 S.Ct. at 1980-81, 52 L.Ed.2d at 629. The Court found no historical or constitutional reason for treating mail differently from persons or vehicles entering the country. See also United States v. King, 517 F.2d 350 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied sub nom. Pearson v. United States, 446 U.S. 966, 100 S.Ct. 2943, 64 L.Ed.2d 825 (1980) (approving a search of mail that was made prior to delivery to the addressee at an inland post office). 28 Extending the doctrine of Ramsey and King, we see no reason to prohibit an extended border search of international mail under the same conditions that would properly permit one to be made of persons or other property that has crossed the border. See also United States v. Pringle, 576 F.2d 1114, 1117 (5th Cir. 1978). There is no more reason to draw a bright line at the moment mail is delivered than there is to draw it after the incoming parcel crosses the border. 29 Thus, we apply this circuit's extended border search doctrine to searches of mail and conclude that such a warrantless search is reasonable (a) when it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that the mail has crossed the border; (b) when it appears with reasonable certainty that the mail's contents have not been altered since it entered the United States and, (c) if the search occurs after delivery of the mail to the addressee, when the government agents who made the search had a reasonable suspicion of smuggling activity. While these requisites have not been exacted in every Fifth Circuit extended-border-search decision, and while, even in those of our decisions requiring them, each has not been separately set forth with this specificity, each of them has been implicitly or explicitly demanded in many of our prior decisions. Thus summarized, they are distillate of a variety of decisions. Each of them has been satisfied here. 6 30 The search was conducted with respect to a package that had undeniably crossed our international border and remained unchanged subsequent to that crossing. In addition, although reasonable suspicion is ordinarily sufficient to warrant such inland searches, even of mail, the government officials were certain that contraband was being smuggled in the package. Therefore, all the criteria that sanction warrantless border searches are met and we hold that the search was not unreasonable. 7 31 Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.