Legal Question in Constitutional Law in California

confidential informant protected by hobbs act

An aquaintence came over to my house and asked if it would be ok if he could come visit us every once in a while. A few days later he came by, during our conversation he asked if he could use the restroom. When he came out he reached in his pocket and handed over a small zip lock bag with methamphetimine inside, when he left I threw it away.Then two days later he came by on his bike and asked if he could use the restroom again. The next day narcotics agents busted in my front door and found what they say was 9.8 grams in nine small zip lock baggies. The affidavit and probable cause are sealed persuant to Hobbs v. state and I have no way to discover the case. The cop said he watched my house one day and saw two or three people leave my house on foot. I know I am not a drug dealer and I still have not seen the baggies that they found. The cop kept calling me a drug dealer and said I had a lot of enmies and people hate me. I found out the guy who came over has a wife who hates me and he is known for snitching to avoid his own criminal charges from counterfit family support checks to drugs. Is there a way to get the court to disclose the identity. An in camera hearing only disclosed the agents credentials and nothing else. Help...


Asked on 8/18/04, 12:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: confidential informant protected by hobbs act

Let me make sure I understand this correctly: you call this man an acquaintance, you invited him into your house on multiple occasions, you have been able to ask around and learn details about his behavior, his criminal history and his wife's attitude toward you, but you don't know his name and you want a court order releasing it to you? Your question does not make much sense.

Your posting is quite similar to one I answered several weeks ago which asked how a defendant could learn the identity of a confidential informant who told police they could find drugs in an acquaintance's bathroom. I presume that you posted that question as well, and my answer today is the same as it was then -- since you already know who this man is, you can subpoena him to testify at your preliminary hearing, at trial and possibly at hearings on various pretrial motions. The police won't tell you whether he was the confidential informant and it is very unlikely that the court will order them to do so, but it doesn't matter. You need to examine your acquaintance about what he did while in your home, and you can do that with the information you already have.

And if you really don't know his name, contact the people who told you about his life and about how his wife regards you. There's a pretty good chance that if they know all these details about him they will know his name as well.

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Answered on 8/18/04, 12:56 pm


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