DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
033485P.pdf 09/03/2004 USA v. Lamont Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 03-3485
District of Nebraska
Criminal case - criminal law. Based on her experience and the
characteristics of the package, drug interdiction officer had reasonable
suspicion that a package contained contraband when she seized it;
Federal Express employee's actions in opening the package did not taint
the discovery as the officer told the employee that the decision to open
the package was her's alone to make, and the employee was not acting as
a government agent for Fourth Amendment purposes as she was
motivated by desire to make sure the company was not used as a courier
service for illegal drugs; rebuttal evidence was admissible under Rule
404(b), and its admission was not prejudicial; district court did not abuse
its discretion in concluding the government had demonstrated good cause
for its failure to disclose the rebuttal witness earlier as the connection
between the witness's prior proffer and defendant's connection with her
was not clear until trial, and the government promptly notified defendant
of the information and gave him access to the witness. Dissent by Judge
Heaney on the issue of whether the Federal Express employee's actions
tainted the discovery.
[PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Heaney and Murphy, Circuit Judges]