Tuesday, January 27, 2015

If 2 confidential informants (not noted as reliable and with no cited police work) give statements that includes first hand knowledge and he...

Question

If 2 confidential informants (not noted as reliable and with no cited police work) give statements that includes first hand knowledge and hearsay to justify a search warrant, how does a court apply the 2 prong test to the information? Example: He stated " I had observed John selling pot multiple times (yes it is this vague), and heard he grows it" In MA, would an electric bill for high electricity trigger a warrant with no other verification? Normally the info on the pot would be hearsay, from an unreliable informant would not satisfy the knowledge prong, but does the compound statement change things.



Answer

It depends on the judge and whether you can show the information is not reliable enough. Confidential informants are given more veracity than anonymous tips. Your lawyer is going to want to file a motion to suppress.



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