U.S. v. Smith, 84-2360
| Decision Date | 02 October 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-2360,84-2360 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Dwight Eugene SMITH, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Michael E. Joseph, Oklahoma City, Okl., for defendant-appellant.
William S. Price, U.S. Atty., and Ted A. Richardson, Asst. U.S. Atty., Oklahoma City, Okl., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before BARRETT, McWILLIAMS, and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this three-judge panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed.R.App.P 34(a); Tenth Cir.R. 10(e). The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Dwight Eugene Smith, an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, was charged with the possession of 13.72 grams of marijuana with an intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) (1981). A jury convicted Smith of the crime charged and he was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of eighteen months, with a special parole term of two years, to run consecutively to other sentences which he was then serving. Smith appeals his conviction and sentence.
As stated, Smith is an inmate at the federal penal institution in El Reno, Oklahoma. Dennis Beasley, an investigative supervisor at the penal institution, received information from a fellow employee, one Jim Moore, that Smith, on his next contact visit with his wife, might receive narcotics. Armed at the time with this information, and no more, so far as the record before us reveals, Beasley submitted to the warden at the institution a request that Smith be subjected to rectal search after Smith's next contact visit with his wife. The warden granted this request in writing. In the meantime, Beasley had contacted the visiting room and asked that he be notified when Smith's wife next came to visit him.
On the same day that Beasley obtained the authorization from the warden for a rectal search of Smith after his next contact visit with his wife, there was, in fact, a contact visit between the two. Immediately thereafter, Smith was taken by the authorities to the prison hospital where he underwent a rectal search performed by a physician's assistant. Smith refused to sign a written consent to the rectal search, but did state that he did not intend to physically resist the search. The ensuing search disclosed two vials or containers, approximately two and one-half to three inches long and one-half inch in diameter, which vials contained about fourteen grams of marijuana.
Prior to trial, appointed counsel for Smith moved to suppress, inter alia, the use at trial of the marijuana taken from Smith's rectal cavity, contending that such violated Smith's Fourth Amendment rights. The motion was denied. Subsequently, defendant's motion to reconsider was also denied. At trial, the marijuana taken from Smith's rectal cavity was offered, and received, into evidence. On appeal, Smith's initial, and primary, ground for reversal is that the trial court committed error in admitting into evidence the marijuana taken from Smith. Under the circumstances, we agree.
In the trial court, Smith's motion to suppress the use at trial of the marijuana taken from his rectum was based on Fourth Amendment rights. As stated, the trial court denied this motion, and later denied Smith's motion for reconsideration which sought an evidentiary hearing. In denying Smith's motions, the trial court noted that Smith was relying exclusively on the Fourth Amendment, and had not relied on 28 C.F.R. Sec. 552.11 (1984), which authorizes a body cavity search of an inmate upon approval by the warden if the warden has a reasonable belief that the inmate is concealing contraband in or on his person. In this Court, Smith continued to rely on the Fourth Amendment, and the government, in its brief, also notes that Smith made no contention that the warden did not have reasonable belief that he (Smith) had contraband in or on his person.
Regardless of the posture of this appeal, we still believe our starting point is 28 C.F.R. Sec. 552.11(c). That regulation, promulgated by the Bureau of Prisons, provides, in pertinent part, that a digital or simple instrument search of a body cavity of an inmate can only be conducted upon approval of the warden and only if the warden has "reasonable belief" that the inmate is concealing contraband in or on his person. Failure by the warden in the instant...
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U.S. v. Smith, 84-2360
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