People v. Wilkins

The trial judge allowed testimony by a police officer on the content of the information a tipster provided him. We believe he erred and we reverse.

I

Nathaniel Wilkins was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon. The charge originated from the observations of police officers who had been told what to watch for through an informant’s tip. While conducting surveillance of a home in Detroit, they observed the defendant enter a car. The car drove away, and the police followed. Wilkins was driving the car, and when the police first ordered him to stop, he refused and drove on. At one point he threw…