United States v. Contento-Pachon
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
723 F.2d 691 (1984)
Juan Contento-Pachon (defendant), a Bogota taxi driver, was recruited by a passenger, Jorge, who revealed he already knew private details about Contento-Pachon's life and threatened to kill his wife and child if he refused to swallow cocaine-filled balloons and smuggle them into the United States. Weeks later, Contento-Pachon swallowed 120 balloons of cocaine and traveled through Panama to the U.S., having been told he would be watched throughout the trip and that noncompliance meant death for him and his family; he avoided going to police in either country out of fear they were corrupt or that his family would be harmed. U.S. customs discovered the cocaine via X-ray, and Contento-Pachon was charged with possession with intent to distribute; the trial court excluded both his duress and necessity defenses.
Whether a defendant may present a duress defense to a drug-trafficking charge when he committed the crime under an immediate, well-grounded threat of death to himself and his family and had no reasonable way to escape the threat.