The appellate court affirmed the district courts denial of a suppression motion. The court held that the drilling by border agents of a single small-diameter hole into a pickup truck bed that does not affect the operation or safety of the vehicle, and which was not carried out in a particularly offensive manner, does not require reasonable suspicion. Specially concurring, Judge B. Fletcher wrote separately to express her distaste for the governments “gameplaying” in this case, and the other two similar cases on the same calendar in which there was reasonable and articulable suspicion of drug smuggling, yet the government sought to obtain confirmation that no suspicion is required for extensive, intrusive searches at the border.
Case Summaries