| Court: | US Supreme Court |
| Facts: | An informant gives a pretty accurate description of Draper, and says he'll have drugs. Draper shows up as described. He's arrested, searched, and there's heroin. |
| Posture: | Court of appeals affirmed the conviction, appeal based on the theory that the search violated Draper's fourth amendment rights. |
| Issue: | Did the facts and circumstances known to the detective give rise to probable cause to believe that he was violating the narcotics laws, thereby empowering him to arrest Draper and search him incident to that arrest? |
| Holding: | Yes. |
| Rule: | The standard for probable cause: if the facts and circumstances would make a person of reasonable caution believe a thing, then there is probable cause. |
| Reasoning: | Recitation of the facts-- it seems very probable. If it there was probable cause, then the arrest was legitimate, and if the arrest was legitimate, then the search incident to the arrest was legitimate. |
| Dicta: | |