People v. Whitfield

The defendant was charged with possessing less than 25 grams of heroin. The trial court suppressed the evidence against him and dismissed the prosecution on the ground that a search warrant had been based on “[m]ere suspicion,” instead of probable cause. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We find that the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that a search would uncover evidence of wrongdoing, and we therefore reverse the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the trial court.

i

On July 10, 1997, a district court magistrate issued a warrant authorizing the search of a home at 18072 Bloom…