Erika Martinez

Period
Bond vs United States
Steven Dewayne Bond was aboard a Greyhound bus when it made its mandatory stop
at a border patrol checkpoint. While there, Border Patrol Agent Cesar Cantu entered the bus to
check the immigration status of each passenger on the bus. After he had made it to the end of
the bus he turned around and started heading towards the front, along the way, he squeezed
the soft luggage which passengers had placed in the overhead storage space above the seats.
Once he reached Bonds bag he felt a brick-like object, Bond admitted that the bag was his
and agreed to allow Agent Cantu to open it. After opening the bag Agent Cantu discover a
brick of Methamphetamine wrapped in duct tape and hidden within a pair of pants.Bond found
ended up serving 57 months in prison, however Bond stated that the Agent Cantus Squeeze
violated his 4th amendment rights, which state that he has a reasonable expectaion to privacy.
Therefore the questions being asked are whether the Individual, by his conduct, has exhibited
an actual expectation of privacy; that is whether he has shown that he [sought] to preserve
[something] as private. and Inquire whether the individuals expectation of privacy is one that
society is prepared to recognize as reasonable.
The Fourth Amendment states that a person has a right to secure their persons,
houses, papers, and effect against unreasonable searches and seizures not to be violated. This
case focuses on whether or not Bonds expectation to privacy was violated by Agent Cantu
when he squeezed the bag. According to California vs Ciraolo, Bond can claim protection under
the fourth amendment if The actor pursuing you is of the state. Do you have standing? (a
reasonable expectation to privacy)... determined by 2 further questions: 1) has the individual
manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the challenged? i.e.: has the
individual created a physical barrier that keeps affairs private? 2) is society willing to recognize
that expectations as reasonable?
Agent Cantu is definitely an actor of the state, after all hes a border patrol agent.
Secondly, Bond was certainly trying to keep his affairs private, the brick of methamphetamine
was wrapped in duct tape until it was oval shape and then rolled into a pair of pants which was
stuffed inside his green canvas bag. Based on this information we can tell that Bond did create
a physical barrier that kept his affairs private. However, society might not be willing to recognize
that his expectations to privacy as reasonable.Bond placed his bag on the overhead
compartment and it would be ridiculous to think that the bag would not be touched by other
passengers so that they can make room for their own bags. Though we can agree that Agent
Cantu manipulated the bag in a way that other passengers would not. After looking over the
facts stated we can see that Bond has reason enough to accuse Agent Cantu of violating his
Fourth Amendment rights by invading Bonds reasonable expectation to privacy.
The question at hand is, Does the Individual, by his conduct, has exhibited an actual
expectation of privacy; that is whether he has shown that he [sought] to preserve [something]
as private. and Inquire whether the individuals expectation of privacy is one that society is
prepared to recognize as reasonable. Throughout the case you can see that Bond reasonably
expected his items to remain private because he had placed barriers between his personal

belongings and everyone else. In addition, Society can see that though Bonds expectation to
privacy might have been a little unreasonable, considering the fact that other passengers can
have access to his belongings, the way Agent Cantu manipulated his belongs were
unreasonable. Therefore we can conclude that Agent Cantu violated Bonds Fourth Amendment
rights.