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Zesch v. People

Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc
Jan 10, 1966
409 P.2d 522 (Colo. 1966)

Opinion

No. 21366

Decided January 10, 1966.

Defendant was convicted of exhibiting obscene film and brings error.

Reversed and Remanded

1. SEARCHES AND SEIZURES.Search Warrant — Affidavit — Evidence — Appeal and Error. Where search warrant was obtained upon affidavit based on testimony of policeman whose only source of information was telephone call to police department by person who refused to give his name, held, such affidavit does not meet constitutionally required standard and hence trial court erred in admitting into evidence the fruits of the search.

Error to the Superior Court of the City and County of Denver, Honorable Paul Hodges, Judge.

Ben Klein, for plaintiff in error.

Duke W. Dunbar, Attorney General, Frank E. Hickey, Deputy, John P. Moore, Assistant, for defendant in error.


This is a search and seizure case. The Attorney General confesses that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence the fruits of the search and points out that the search warrant in issue here is constitutionally invalid under the express language of Hernandez v. People, 153 Colo. 316, 385 P.2d 996, and Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 Sup. Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723. We agree. The search warrant was obtained upon an affidavit based on testimony of a policeman whose only source of information was a telephone call to the police department by a person who refused to give his name. Such an affidavit does not meet the constitutional requirement set forth in Hernandez and Aguilar, supra.


The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court for further proceedings not inconsistent with the views herein expressed.


Summaries of

Zesch v. People

Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc
Jan 10, 1966
409 P.2d 522 (Colo. 1966)
Case details for

Zesch v. People

Case Details

Full title:Benjamin Zesch, Plaintiff, v. The People of the State of Colorado…

Court:Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc

Date published: Jan 10, 1966

Citations

409 P.2d 522 (Colo. 1966)
409 P.2d 522

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