United States v. Jerry Richard Larkin

Larkin appeals from his conviction for violating 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), 846 (possession of marijuana with intent to distribute). The question on appeal is the validity of the vehicle search that revealed the marijuana. Resolution of the question turns on the issue: Does an informant’s tip that meets neither of the tests of Spinelli v. United States (1969) 393 U.S. 410 , 89 S.Ct. 584 , 21 L.Ed.2d 637 and Aguilar v. Texas (1964) 378 U.S. 108 , 84 S.Ct. 1509 , 12 L.Ed.2d 723 supply probable cause to search or to arrest when innocuous information contained in the tip is corroborated by observations of law enforcement personnel?

Agent LeMon received a radio dispatch that a 1972 black on blue GMC “blazer-type” vehicle, with an identified license plate number, would be proceeding from El Centro toward Los Angeles carrying heroin and marijuana. The information given LeMon had been supplied by a drug enforcement officer who in turn had received the tip from an informant whose reliability was not proved and the dependability of whose information was not established. Later the same morning LeMon saw a vehicle answering the description. He followed it about 20 miles until the…