United States v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 10 December 1973
• Docket Number: No. 72-2930.,72-2930.
• Citation: 488 F.2d 400
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sheila Lynn WILSON and Louis Ray Jones, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

488 F.2d 400 (1973)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sheila Lynn WILSON and Louis Ray Jones, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 72-2930.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

December 10, 1973.

Lawrence S. Katz, Harvey S. Swickle, Miami Beach, Fla., for defendants-appellants.

Robert W. Rust, U. S. Atty., Jerome B. Ullman, Jr., Kerry J. Nahoom, Asst. U. S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before AINSWORTH, GODBOLD and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

GODBOLD, Circuit Judge:

Appellants were indicted on four counts. The first three related to 325 grams of cocaine — Count I charged conspiracy to distribute, Count II possession and Count III importation. Count IV charged importation of 4½ grams of marijuana. Appellants were charged with aiding and abetting in all counts. Following a lengthy hearing the District Court granted a motion to suppress as to certain statements made by appellant Jones prior to his having been given Miranda warnings and denied the motion as to marijuana found in Jones' suitcase, cocaine found taped to Miss Wilson's thighs, and marijuana found in Miss Wilson's boot. After the rulings on the motion to suppress Miss Wilson entered a plea of nolo contendere as to Counts III and IV, with the express understanding between her and the trial court that she would have the right to review by appeal the denial of the motion.¹

The case then went to trial without a jury, on Counts I and II as to Miss Wilson and on all counts as to Jones. Judgments of conviction were entered against both defendants on only Counts III and IV.

There was evidence which the District Judge was entitled to credit showing the following facts and circumstances. Jones, a young man, and Miss Wilson, a young woman of 18, approached the customs area for incoming international passengers at Miami International Airport. They were serious and somber in manner. Jones had a plaster cast on one leg. (The presence of a cast can trigger suspicion, since it may be used as a hiding place for contraband.) Miss Wilson was wearing a long dress. (Though not a rare item of attire, it nevertheless can trigger suspicion because of the possibility, here an actuality, of concealing contraband attached to the lower legs or thighs.) The appellants presented themselves for routine customs inspection, Jones in front, Miss Wilson behind him. They were standing together and opened their luggage at the same time, so the inspector assumed they were married or traveling together and before examining any of their luggage inquired whether they were traveling together. Jones responded that he and Miss Wilson were traveling together and had been since Freeport in the Bahamas. They had arrived on a flight from that point, where he had met Miss Wilson at the airport.

An inspector then examined Jones' suitcase and in it found a seed which, by examination on the scene, he concluded was a marijuana seed. He asked Jones if he knew what it was, and Jones responded that it was a marijuana seed, that there shouldn't have been any seeds in the suitcase because he had cleaned out the bag before boarding the plane. The inspector then searched further and found a spent .38 caliber cartridge, but with the bullet still in it. He inquired of Jones where the pistol was for the cartridge, and Jones responded that he had no pistol, that the cartridge was a souvenir. The inspector handed it to Jones, who according to his own testimony, voluntarily opened it (by removing the projectile from the cartridge case) to demonstrate that it was not live ammunition, and when he did so a white flaky powder whose general appearance was similar...