Carroll v. United States

Petitioners were arrested in February 1954 on John Doe warrants and subsequently were indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, with two others, for violations of the local lottery laws and for conspiracy to carry on a lottery. After indictment each filed a pre-trial motion under Rule 41 (e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 2 asking for the suppression of evidence seized from his person at the time of his arrest. The District Court granted petitioners’ motions to suppress, on the ground that probable cause had been lacking for the issuance of the…