Opinion

Manley v. Commonwealth

  • 211 Va. 146
  • 176 S.E.2d 309
  • 1970 Va. LEXIS 227
Court
Supreme Court of Virginia
Filed
Sep 4, 1970
Status
Published
Author
Gordon
On the bench
I'Anson, Gordon
Cited by
50 cases
Authority
More cited than 12.7%

explaining that "[t]he most commonly accepted and approved allegation to substantiate reliability is that the informer is a person of known and proven reliability and has furnished information to law enforcement officers which has been instrumental in procuring convictions"

How later courts described this case

  • explaining that "[t]he most commonly accepted and approved allegation to substantiate reliability is that the informer is a person of known and proven reliability and has furnished information to law enforcement officers which has been instrumental in procuring convictions"
  • “The most commonly accepted and approved allegation to substantiate reliability is that the informer is a person of known and proven reliability and has furnished information to law enforcement officers which has been instrumental in procuring convictions.”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Gordon, J.,

concurring in result.

The majority concludes that an informer may be found credible or his information found reliable because he claimed to be an eyewitness or because his information was detailed. I do not so read the opinion of the Court and the concurring opinion of Mr. Justice White in Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410 , 89 S.Ct. 584 , 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). And I believe reason militates against such a conclusion.

I agree with the majority, however, that reliability in this case was sufficiently established by the informer’s admission against interest. So I concur in affirming the judgment.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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