# Manley v. Commonwealth

> Supreme Court of Virginia · September 4, 1970 · 211 Va. 146

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9846115

## Case

- **Full name:** Melvin Lloyd Manley, Alias, Etc. v. Commonwealth of Virginia
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Virginia
- **Decided:** September 4, 1970
- **Citations:** 211 Va. 146; 176 S.E.2d 309; 1970 Va. LEXIS 227
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Gordon
- **Judges:** I'Anson, Gordon
- **Cited by:** 50 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9846115

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- 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"

## Opinion text

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.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9846115. Public record. Not legal advice.