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Name: U.S. v. Gonzalez
Case #: 02-50160
Court: US Court of Appeals
District 9 Cir
Opinion Date: 05/05/2003
Summary

DEA agents were watching a package containing MDMA (ecstacy) after it arrived at a Kaiser Permanente mailroom from Belgium. Cameras surreptitiously recorded the package’s arrival, and appellant’s apparent ecstatic reaction to its arrival. When appellant was confronted with the videotape, he implicated himself in three different stories. His motion to suppress the evidence was denied, and he pleaded guilty. The appellate court here affirmed. The expectation of privacy in a public mailroom is not one which society recognizes as reasonable. The fact that the surveillance was conducted by video camera does not alter the conclusion.