Opinion ID: 409244
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the motion to suppress evidence unlawfully seized.

Text: 18 The district court denied the defendants' motion to suppress the evidence on the grounds that the searches of the aircraft and luggage were border searches justified by reasonable suspicion, or alternatively probable cause. The defendants contend that the district court applied an improper standard for determining whether the search occurred at the border, and that we must remand for findings as to whether there was reasonable certainty that this was an extended border search. We hold that the search was not unlawful because it occurred at the functional equivalent of the border, and we accordingly affirm the district court's denial of the motion to suppress. 3 19 In general, warrantless searches and seizures are unreasonable under the fourth amendment except those falling within a few narrowly defined exceptions. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). One of these exceptions is the warrantless search at the international border, which is justified on the basis of the sovereign's historical right to protect itself by examining people and property entering the country. 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). Not only may government officials search property at the border without a warrant, but they need not have any suspicion to justify their search. United States v. Sandler, 644 F.2d 1163 (5th Cir. 1981) (en banc). 20 The courts have recognized a number of different types of situations which are often referred to as border searches, but which require different levels of suspicion to justify the actual search. Unfortunately, the courts have not always been careful to explain which type of search was involved, thereby creating unnecessary confusion in the area. We need only concern ourselves with whether the searches of the aircraft and luggage were functional equivalent of the border searches which are permitted just as if the search actually occurred at the international boundary line, see Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 272, 93 S.Ct. 2535, 2539, 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973), or whether they were extended border searches, requiring at least a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to justify the search. See United States v. Richards, 638 F.2d 765 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1097, 102 S.Ct. 669, 70 L.Ed.2d 638 (1981). 4 21 The defendants contend, and we think rightly so, that whatever type of search is involved, a border crossing must be demonstrated by more than reasonable suspicion or probable cause. We have generally required a showing beyond a reasonable certainty that the entity searched has crossed the international border, United States v. Ivey, 546 F.2d 139 (5th Cir. 1977), or a high degree of probability that a border crossing took place. United States v. Brennan, 538 F.2d 711, 715 (5th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1092, 97 S.Ct. 1104, 51 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977). The standard of reasonable certainty has been described by the Ninth Circuit as something more than probable cause, but less than beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Driscoll, 632 F.2d 737, 739 (9th Cir. 1980). The Eleventh Circuit has recently summarized the essence of the functional equivalent of the border: 22 A search within the border may also be justified as a border search requiring no warrant nor any suspicion if there is reasonable certainty that the object or person searched has just crossed the border, there has been no time or opportunity for the object to have changed materially since the time of crossing, and the search is conducted at the earliest practicable point after the border was crossed. Justice Stewart's example of the search of an aircraft at its first point of landing in the United States after an international flight is the paradigm example of this type of search. Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, supra, 413 U.S. at 272, 93 S.Ct. at 2539. This type of search is justified under the border-search doctrine because it is in essence no different than a search conducted at the border; the reason for allowing such a search to take place other than at the actual physical border is the practical impossibility of requiring the subject searched to stop at the physical border. 23 United States v. Garcia, 672 F.2d 1349, 1363-64 (11th Cir. 1982). 24 The main difference between the functional equivalent of the border search and an extended border search is that the latter takes place after the first point in time when the entity might have been stopped within the country. The extended border search still requires a showing beyond reasonable certainty both that the border has been crossed and that conditions have remained unchanged since the time of the border crossing. Richards, supra. The court elaborated on the justifications for these delayed searches in Garcia: 25 The rationale for these cases, which sometimes use the extended border search terminology, is grounded in part on the fact that the border has been crossed and additionally on the special need of law enforcement officials to defer apprehension of those suspected of being engaged in illegal smuggling activities in circumstances where surveillance may lead them to  'higher ups' or other cohorts in the illegal enterprise, United States v. Fogelman, 586 F.2d 337, 348 (5th Cir. 1978), or to further evidence of the criminal activity. 26 672 F.2d at 1364. Since extended border searches entail a greater intrusion on legitimate expectations of privacy, they are permitted only if supported by reasonable suspicion. Richards. 27 Defendants conceded during oral argument that a border crossing took place sometime during the early morning hours of February 9, 1981. They maintain, however, that the government has made no showing that the aircraft searched in San Angelo was the same aircraft that crossed the border. The critical question in this case, therefore, is whether there is a reasonable certainty that only one aircraft was involved. 28 Framed in this way, it becomes apparent that if the searches were constitutional, it is because they occurred at the functional equivalent of the border, and not within the extended border area. If Agent Vera was tracking only one aircraft, then he searched it at the first possible opportunity, when it landed in San Angelo. There is no evidence whatsoever in the record that the aircraft, sighted seventy miles off of Galveston Island, landed anywhere within the United States before the landing in San Angelo. In fact, all parties seem to agree that a landing was not possible at most of the airports where the aircraft (or aircrafts) was sighted. Certainly, there was not an opportunity to land, load more than a ton of marijuana into the plane, and take off again during the time when the aircraft was lost from the radar screen. This is not a case where agents followed a vehicle as it made its rounds into the interior, only to stop it when they believed it worth their while. See, e.g., 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). If we can be reasonably certain that Agent Vera searched the aircraft that had crossed the border, then this case would fall squarely within Justice Stewart's example of a functional equivalent of the border where a non-stop flight from a foreign country is searched when it first lands in the United States. Almeida-Sanchez, supra, 413 U.S. at 272, 93 S.Ct. at 2539. 29 Defendants, relying on United States v. Johnson, 588 F.2d 147 (5th Cir. 1979), contend that constant surveillance of the aircraft, from the time of the border crossing until the search, is required to support the search. They maintain that the numerous gaps in the radar tracking of the aircraft, when the plane was lost from the screen for as long as twenty minutes at a time, are fatal to the government's attempt to justify its search. In Johnson, we merely suggested that constant surveillance was one way the government could demonstrate the functional equivalent of a border search. Similarly, constant surveillance would support a government claim that there had been no alteration since the border crossing in the extended border context. Richards, supra; Fogelman, supra. In fact, we have not even imposed a requirement that the customs officials actually observe the border crossing as long as we can be reasonably certain of the crossing on the basis of reasonable inferences from the circumstances. United States v. Ingham, 502 F.2d 1287, 1291 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 911, 95 S.Ct. 1566, 43 L.Ed.2d 777 (1975). 30 Normally, the issue is whether an international crossing has occurred. For example, in United States v. Brennan, 538 F.2d 711 (5th Cir. 1976), we were not convinced that a border crossing had taken place where the plane departed from Melborne, Florida, was lost over Miami where most of the air traffic in the vicinity was domestic, and was picked up again only when it returned to Melborne. Similarly, in United States v. Johnson, supra, there was no evidence that the duffel bag searched had been in the vehicle at the time the vehicle crossed the border. In contrast, we upheld the search of a plane known to have departed from a foreign country, purportedly en route to another foreign destination, when it arrived unannounced in a secluded United States airport thirteen hours later. United States v. Ivey, 546 F.2d 139 (5th Cir. 1977). 31 In United States v. Stone, 659 F.2d 569 (5th Cir. 1981), we upheld a search where the identity of the aircraft may originally have been in question. We specifically noted that an aircraft had been sighted over foreign airspace after a reported near midair collision, and the aircraft searched showed signs of damage. There had also been uninterrupted surveillance of the aircraft from the first sighting until touchdown. As in Stone, an aircraft in this case was sighted over foreign air space, seventy miles south of Galveston Island. Agent Vera, a customs pilot for approximately eight years with 4700 hours of flying time, believed the aircraft he was following was either low on fuel or having mechanical problems and that it was desperate to find an airport where it could land. He based his conclusion on his observations that the aircraft was frequently altering its course and changing its speed as it arrived in the Houston area, that it was making an apparent attempt to land at Austin, and that it was dangerously circling small airports west of Austin and near Llano and Mason. The government agents noticed oil being thrown from one of the engines of the plane searched, which corroborated Vera's suspicions. 32 As in Stone, the aircraft when originally sighted and when actually stopped bore signs of smuggling activity. While a showing of suspicious behavior is not necessary in the context of a search at the functional equivalent of the border, the fact that the aircraft appeared to be engaged in smuggling activity both at the initial and final stages of the surveillance is a further indication that only one plane was involved. The DC-3, originally targeted by Agent Vera was not operating a transponder, had no flight plan, and was flying at night towards the United States on a route commonly used by aircraft arriving from Central or South America, all of which were indications of smuggling activity. Stone, supra, at 571. Similarly, the pilot's misstatement of the aircraft's call numbers before landing; and the obvious taped alteration of the numbers on the aircraft itself, aroused the agents' suspicions when the plane finally landed. 33 As noted above, the aircraft in Stone was under constant surveillance, while the aircraft in this case was not. Defendants point out that the control facilities initially advised on an aircraft that turned out to be another customs plane. The aircraft that landed had its lights on and had a transponder, although there was no indication that it was in use. Defendants also emphasize that Agent Vera was unable to say whether other control towers had reported the landing of an unidentified aircraft. They would raise the possibility that there were two unidentified aircraft smuggling marijuana into Texas on that dark and foggy night in February. 34 The weather conditions existing on February 9, 1981 provide the determining factor in the government's case. Because of the early morning hours and the weather, there was very little air traffic during the three and one-half hour period in question. The dense fog limited visibility in the entire South and Southwest Texas area, permitting landings only at Waco and San Angelo. The control towers in the area were alerted to be on the lookout for an unidentified aircraft without a flight plan and none was reported. 5 The agents were able to determine that there was only one unidentified aircraft desperately searching for a place to land, on the basis of the timing and routes taken by the plane. 6 35 Had there been clear weather and heavy air traffic during the time of the events in question we might be more concerned about the absence of constant surveillance, but such is not the case. The area was covered by dense fog and only one unidentified aircraft was reported in the vicinity. The light air traffic caused by the poor weather conditions, the absence of any report of other unidentified aircraft in the vicinity, and the fact that the plane Agent Vera was following as well as the plane searched seemed to be having mechanical difficulties, all lead us to conclude that the government has demonstrated beyond a reasonable certainty that the DC-3 searched was the aircraft sighted off the coast of Texas which subsequently crossed the international boundary and landed in San Angelo. Since the searches occurred at the functional equivalent of the border, the customs officials could search both the aircraft and the luggage without any suspicion whatsoever, Sandler, supra, and we hold the searches constitutional. 7 36