United States v. Amado-Nunez
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
357 F.3d 119 (1st Cir. 2004)
Relevant factsFree
Amado-Nunez was found with counterfeit tax stamps in his luggage while passing through a customs checkpoint at the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport, and although his indictment stated he had arrived on a flight from the Dominican Republic, the prosecution never formally proved this foreign-origin fact at trial, which he argued left the interstate/foreign commerce element of the offense unestablished.
IssueFree
Whether the proposition that formal customs inspections are only for passengers arriving from foreign countries is so commonly known that it constitutes a background fact that need not be judicially noticed to be taken by the court as true.