Julia Calderon

Humanities
21 May 2015
Bond vs. United States
In this case, petitioner Steven Dewayne Bond boarded a greyhound bus headed to Little
Rock, Arkansas. The bus made a stop in Sierra Blanca, Texas at a Border Patrol Checkpoint.
Border Patrol Agent Cesar Cantu boarded the bus to check the immigration status of
passengers. After checking that all passengers were U.S Citizens, Agent Cantu began to
squeeze all of the soft luggage in the overhead compartments. Once Agent Cantu reached the
fifth row from the back of the bus, he squeezed a green canvas bag. Agent Cantu noticed a
Brick Like object within the bag. Steven Dewayne confirmed that the bag was his and allowed
Agent Cantu to open it. When opening the bag the agent found a brick of methamphetamine
wrapped in duct tape into an oval shape then wrapped into a pair of pants. Considering the
search of Bond's bag, Was Bonds expectation of privacy violated by Agent Cantus squeeze of
the green canvas bag?
When determining whether or not Bond had a reasonable expectation to privacy we
must identify the two rules in question from the events of California vs. Ciraolo. First it must be
asked, Has the individual manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the
challenged search. Second it must be asked if, Society is willing to recognize that that
expectation to privacy is reasonable. Similar to California vs. Ciraolo both of these cases bring
in question if expectation to privacy applies in a public space.
Based on the facts of this case Bonds expectation to privacy was violated when his bag
was searched for methamphetamine. Agent Cantu should not have squeezed the bags in the
overhead compartment because he did not have suspicion of there being drugs. Agent Cantu
boarded the bus to Check immigration status. Cantu confirmed that all passengers were U.S
citizens, and had no suspicion of there being drugs. Bond did have a subjective expectation of
privacy, because there was a physical barrier around his property. Cantu squeezed a green
canvas bag, which was placed in the overhead compartment. The methamphetamine itself was
rolled in pants that were placed in a canvas bag.