Case Title: State v. Tacker

Citation: 241 Or. 597, 407 P.2d 851

Docket Number: 

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 1965-11-17T00:00:00Z

Document:
Affirmed November 17, 1965.
*598 Jack R. Hannam, Portland, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the brief was John P. Ronchetto, Portland.
George M. Joseph, Deputy District Attorney, Portland, argued the cause for respondent. On the brief were George Van Hoomissen, District Attorney, and Lewis B. Hampton, Deputy District Attorney, Portland.
Before McALLISTER, Chief Justice, and PERRY, SLOAN, GOODWIN, DENECKE, HOLMAN and LUSK, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
PERRY, J.
The defendant was convicted of the crime of receiving and concealing stolen property and appeals.
His sole contention of error is based upon the trial court's failure to sustain his motion to suppress the property he was alleged to have received and concealed.
His contention that the motion to suppress was erroneously overruled is grounded on the contention that the affidavit upon which a search warrant was issued and the property seized was insufficient in that it is based upon information and belief.
The affidavit upon which the search warrant was issued is as follows:
The affidavit discloses that in form it is not sworn to upon information and belief. It appears that defendant's contention is that a search warrant may not issue unless the deponent has personal knowledge that the property sought to be seized is upon the premises sought to be searched, and, therefore, such an affidavit is upon information and belief.
The essential question then is whether an affidavit containing hearsay declarations of facts, presumably within the personal knowledge of an informant, constitutes probable cause for the issuance of a valid warrant.
This court has never passed upon this precise question. However, this precise question was thoroughly considered by the Supreme Court of the United States in Jones v. United States, 362 US 257, 269, 80 S Ct 725, 4 L ed2d 697, where the court stated the question as follows:
The court then proceeds to hold that there is a vast difference between proof of probable cause and proof of guilt, and that an affidavit based on hearsay, if sufficient to convince the issuing magistrate of probable cause, is sufficient for the issuance of a valid search warrant.
*601 The Jones decision is followed and approved in Rugendorf v. United States, 376 US 528, 84 S Ct 825, 11 L ed2d 887, and United States v. Ventresca, 380 US 102, 85 S Ct 741, 13 L ed2d 684.
The affidavit in Rugendorf is for all intents and purposes identical with that in the case before us.
1-5. The policy behind these decisions is expressed in United States v. Ventresca, supra, 85 S Ct 741, 746, as follows:
The trial court committed no error in overruling the motion to suppress.
The judgment is affirmed.