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CA7: 911 call was sufficiently corroborated by observations of details; caller's name not required

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

911 call describing man who pulled a gun on his female companion was sufficiently corroborated by seeing people matching the description. A requirement of more corroboration or detail would make the 911 system incapable of being a crime tip system. United States v. Wooden, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 26412 (7th Cir. December 29, 2008), lower court opinion posted here. As always, an interesting read from Judge Easterbrook: Doubtless greater confidence can be achieved when police know a caller's identity, for then, as the Court observed in J.L., the threat of penalties for lies makes information more reliable. Yet as a practical matter a name given by a caller does not make the tip less anonymous. Suppose that the 911 call in this case had begun: "My name is John Jenkins, and I would like to report ...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 01, 2009 (boomark / email).