The PEOPLE v. Waitts

The defendant, Sylvester Waitts, was indicted by the Cook County grand jury in 1962 for the unlawful possession of a narcotic drug. He was tried by a jury, convicted and sentenced to a term of two to six years in the penitentiary. The defendant sued -out a writ of error to this court on the ground that the complaint, which was the basis of the arrest warrant, did not meet Federal and State constitutional standards upon which the issuing magistrate could find probable cause.

On June 29, 1962, officer Fred Martinez of the Chicago Police Department appeared before a judge of the municipal court…