People v. Burks

In People v. Burks, 134 AD2d 604 (2d Dep't 1987) a search warrant of defendant's apartment was issued based on information provided by a confidential informant of "no known reliability," and on the police officer's personal observations that cocaine was obtainable from somewhere in the apartment building in which defendant resided. Although the informant allegedly made a controlled buy of cocaine from defendant's apartment, there was no police verification that the cocaine was actually sold by defendant or from his apartment. Under these circumstances, the court concluded that the warrant was defective because the application contained no indicia of the confidential informant's reliability and no police corroboration of the informant's information. (People v. Burks, 134 AD2d at 605-06.)