The courts will apply another balancing test in determining whether the Commonwealth must disclose the identity of an informant. However, the police also have an interest in keeping informants anonymous. The Confrontation Clause of the 6th amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees each defendant the right to confront their accuser.

Many times the hardest part of challenging CI information is the fact that the CI is anonymous. In a criminal case where the CI is found to be unreliable, the warrant may be challenged and the evidence derived from the search potentially suppressed. The facts are assessed under a totality of the circumstances analysis, and no one factor is definitive. Factors to consider in an assessment of reliability include: prior reliable information given by the informant, corroboration by any other source, whether the information is current or stale, whether the informant’s statements were a declaration against interest and whether the accused’s reputation supported the tip. When CI information forms the essential basis to a finding of probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant, the warrant authority must determine whether that CI’s information is reliable based on information given by the police. Not all information supplied by a CI is legally sufficient to establish a valid, legal search warrant.

Mix in that they are often working as an informant as consideration for leniency in their own criminal cases, and you’ll see why courts and juries may not take a CI’s testimony at face value.ĭespite their past histories, work done and information provided by CIs may serve for the basis of a search warrant application or eventual criminal charges against you as a defendant. Most people used as confidential informants have murky criminal records and substance abuse histories. Confidential Informants are used in ways that are borderline grey areas constitutionally. Challenging Confidential Informants: The Commonwealth's Dirty Little Secret Posted By Frank Walker Law || Ĭonfidential informants (CIs) are a common weapon used by the police to provide intelligence and aid them in Drug investigations in ways that undercover police officers just can’t do in the same way.

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