Spinelli v. United States
United States Supreme Court
393 U.S. 410 (1969)
Relevant factsFree
The FBI's search warrant application relied heavily on an unnamed informant's tip about Spinelli's (defendant) illegal gambling activities, providing no explanation of the informant's reliability or how he obtained his information, though the FBI had corroborated some surrounding details through independent surveillance; Spinelli was convicted based on evidence from the resulting search.
IssueFree
Whether information from an informant establishes the necessary probable cause to obtain a search warrant if the affidavit fails to contain details as to why the informant is reliable or explain how he came to the conclusions he did.