State v. Hutchins

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

In this case, as in State v. Lewis, also decided today, 116 N.J. 477 (1989), we consider the legality of a warrantless entry into a home following an informant’s tip of suspected drug activity.

In the present case, police were told by an informant that a black male named Bob, dressed in blue, was selling heroin from a certain address in Newark. Two officers, in plainclothes, proceeded to the address to attempt an undercover drug buy. Defendant, a black male wearing a blue jogging suit, answered the door but did not respond to the officers’…