Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
About
This compendium includes significant criminal cases by the U.S. Supreme Court & N.C. appellate courts, Nov. 2008 – Present. Selected 4th Circuit cases also are included.
Jessica Smith prepared case summaries Nov. 2008-June 4, 2019; later summaries are prepared by other School staff.
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On appeal from a decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 791 S.E.2d 505 (2016), the court affirmed in a per curiam opinion. Over a dissent, the Court of Appeals had held that the search warrant was supported by sufficient probable cause. At issue was the...
Reversing the court of appeals in this drug case, the court held that the trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to suppress, finding that probable cause existed to justify issuance of a search warrant authorizing a search of defendant’s apartment. The application was based on the...
The court held that an affidavit supporting a search warrant failed to provide a substantial basis for the magistrate to conclude that probable cause existed. In the affidavit, the affiant officer stated that another officer conveyed to him a tip from a confidential informant that the suspect...
A confidential informant who had provided reliable information in the past told officers that the defendant was selling drugs from his home. The officers had the informant conduct a controlled buy, then obtained a search warrant for the residence. They executed the warrant, found drugs, and...
In this attempted murder and robbery case, a search warrant was supported by probable cause. On appeal, the defendant argued that the warrant lacked probable cause because a statement by a confidential informant provided the only basis to believe the evidence might be found at the premises in...
In this drug case, a search warrant application relying principally upon information obtained from a confidential informant was sufficient to support a magistrate’s finding of probable cause and a subsequent search of the defendant’s home. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the...
In this drug case, a search warrant was properly supported by probable cause. At issue was whether a confidential informant was sufficiently reliable to support a finding of probable cause. The affidavit noted that the confidential informant was familiar with the appearance of illegal narcotics...
Reversing the trial court, the court held that probable cause supported issuance of a search warrant to search the defendant’s residence. Although the affidavit was based on anonymous callers, law enforcement corroborated specific information provided by a caller so that the tip had a sufficient...
The fact that an officer who received the tip at issue had been receiving accurate information from the informant for nearly thirteen years sufficiently established the informant’s reliability. The affidavit sufficiently described the source of the informant’s information as a waitress who had...