Aguilar v. Texas
Facts
Two Houston police officers sought a warrant to search petitioner's home for narcotics. Their affidavit stated only that they had received reliable information from a credible person and believed that heroin, marijuana, barbiturates, and other narcotics and narcotic paraphernalia were being kept at the premises for sale and use contrary to law. The magistrate issued the warrant, officers entered the house, and they seized petitioner while he was attempting to dispose of narcotics. At trial, petitioner objected to the evidence obtained through the warrant, but the objection was overruled and he was convicted.
Issue
Whether a search warrant may validly issue when the supporting affidavit states only that officers received reliable information from a credible person and believe narcotics are on the premises, without setting out the underlying circumstances supporting the informant's conclusion or the officer's claim of reliability.
Rule
Under the Fourth Amendment, as applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, a magistrate may issue a search warrant only upon probable cause shown by facts or circumstances presented under oath or affirmation. When an affidavit is based on hearsay from an informant, it must inform the magistrate of some of the underlying circumstances from which the informant concluded that the items were where he claimed they were, and some of the underlying circumstances from which the officer concluded that the informant was credible or his information reliable; mere affirmance of suspicion, belief, or conclusion is insufficient.
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If Devin moves to suppress the laptops seized under the warrant, how should the court rule?