Court Opinion

ID: 9459654
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:27:30.487993+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:16.091284
License: Public Domain

HAYS, Circuit Judge
(concurring and dissenting):
I agree with the majority that this judgment must be reversed. However, I concur in the opinion of the court only with respect to the exclusion of the defendant and the public from that portion of the suppression hearing during which ticket agent Falen testified to material unrelated to the FAA “profile” material.
I believe that the search which the appellant complains of in this case was lawful because the appellant consented to it. It is highly unrealistic to believe that this passenger was not aware that if he chose not to board the plane his baggage would not be searched. If it was ever true that passengers thought their baggage would be searched whether or not they boarded the plane, that day is long since past. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I would hold that appellant consented to the search of his luggage.
The very recent case of Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973) lends support to this conclusion. There the Court said at p. 248, 93 S.Ct. at p. 2059:
“Voluntariness is a question of fact to be determined from all the circumstances, and while the subject’s knowledge of a right to refuse is a factor to be taken into account, the prosecution is not required to demonstrate such knowledge as a prerequisite to establishing a voluntary consent.”