United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT November 23, 2004
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 03-50921
Summary Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
CHRISTOPHER MONTES,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Texas
USDC No. SA-03-CR-18-ALL
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, JONES and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Christopher Montes was convicted, pursuant to his
conditional guilty plea, of one charge of possession of five
kilograms or more of cocaine with intent to distribute. The
district court sentenced Montes to 121 months in prison and a five-
year term of supervised release. Montes appeals the district
court’s denial of his motion to suppress. Montes argues that the
district court erred in determining both that the officials’ search
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
of his bags did not exceed that of the private parties and that he
had abandoned these bags.
Our review of the record shows that the district court
did not err in determining that the governmental search of Montes’s
bags was constitutionally permissible because it did not exceed the
search conducted by private individuals. See United States v.
Runyan, 275 F.3d 449, 464 (5th Cir. 2001); United States v. Grimes,
244 F.3d 375, 383 (5th Cir. 2001). Because this determination
provides a sufficient basis to uphold the district court’s denial
of Montes’s motion to suppress, there is no need to consider the
parties’ remaining arguments. See United States v. Ibarra-Sanchez,
199 F.3d 753, 758 (5th Cir. 1999). The judgment of the district
court is AFFIRMED.
2