United States v. Bernice Malloy Miller

POWELL, Retired Associate Justice:

The question presented in this case is whether a police officer has probable cause to arrest a defendant when the officer is acting on an informant’s tip and has corroborated a substantial portion of that tip through personal observation. The informant in the case before us had not provided the police with information in the past, but was providing this information in order to gain leniency on pending state charges. We hold that under these circumstances there was sufficient probable cause for a warrantless arrest, and reverse the district court’s suppression…