United States v. White case brief

United States v. White case brief summary
401 U.S. 745 (1971)

CASE SYNOPSIS

The government sought review of a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which reversed the trial court's judgment convicting defendant under two consolidated indictments charging various illegal transactions in narcotics violative of 26 U.S.C.S. § 4705 (a) and 21 U.S.C.S. § 174 and sentencing him as a second offender to 25-year concurrent sentences.

CASE FACTS
Defendant was convicted under two consolidated indictments charging him with various illegal transactions in narcotics violative of 26 U.S.C.S. § 4705 (a) and 21 U.S.C.S. § 174 and sentenced as a second offender to 25-year concurrent sentences. The lower appellate court reversed respondent's conviction, and the government sought writ of certiorari.

DISCUSSION

• The Court concluded that the lower appellate court misinterpreted both Katz and U.S. Constitutional Amendment IV and erred in applying Katz to events that occurred before that decision was rendered by the court. 
• The Court concluded that under pre-Katz law, the electronic surveillance of defendant involved did not violate his rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. 
• The Court concluded that the Fourth Amendment did not bar from evidence the testimony of governmental agents who related certain conversations which had occurred between defendant and a government informant, and which the agents overheard by monitoring the frequency of a radio transmitter carried by the informant and concealed on his person.

CONCLUSION
The lower appellate court's judgment reversing defendant's conviction for various illegal transactions in narcotics was reversed because the testimony of governmental agents who related certain conversations which had occurred between defendant and a government informant, and which the agents overheard by monitoring the frequency of a radio transmitter carried by the informant and concealed on his person was not precluded by the Fourth Amendment.



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