People v. Whitfield

In People v. Whitfield, 461 Mich 441, 445; NW2d (2000), the police submitted the affidavit of a member of the narcotics division in support of the application for a search warrant. The officer averred that when the alleged seller asked him what he wanted, he responded, "one." The seller asked the officer to name a common acquaintance; when the officer was unable to comply, the seller told him to return with someone the seller knew. The seller had a large bundle of folded coin envelopes; the officer stated that he had participated in over one hundred narcotics raids, and he had seen heroin packaged in such coin envelopes "on numerous occasions." Id. at 443. The Supreme Court held that, on these facts, the magistrate had a substantial basis for finding probable cause to issue the search warrant because there was a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime would be found at the location. Id. at 448.