Can a Confidential Informant’s Statements Be Used Against Me in a Drug Case?
If you have been arrested in connection with a drug offense in Indiana and are facing charges for a serious drug crime, you may learn that law enforcement obtained evidence against you in order to bring the charges based on information supplied by a confidential informant. Finding out that law enforcement made use of a confidential informant’s statements, or information supplied by a confidential informant, can be extremely frustrating. You may be wondering: can this type of information actually be used against me if I do not know the identity of the informant? You also might be aware of the Sixth Amendment’s “Confrontation Clause,” which says that anyone accused of a crime has a right to confront their accuser. As such, you are likely wondering if evidence supplied by a confidential informant violates the Confrontation Clause.
In short, Indiana courts generally allow evidence in drug cases that has been supplied by confidential informants, but there may be options in your defense to prevent the confidential informant’s information from being used against you. Our Indianapolis criminal defense attorneys can explain in more detail.
What is a Confidential Informant?
In order to understand how and when a confidential informant might be used to supply evidence against you in a drug case, it is essential to understand what a confidential informant is and how these people are used by law enforcement. According to operating procedures from the Indiana State Police, confidential informants (or CIs, for short) can be used “to obtain criminal information and intelligence as part of lawful criminal investigations.”
Confidential informants are individuals who supply information to law enforcement confidentially (meaning that their identities are not made available). They generally fall into one of the following two categories:
- CIs being paid for their services; or
- CIs cooperating with law enforcement to bargain for leniency in a case (i.e., supplying information to “work off” their own case).
Indiana Law on Confidential Informants and the Confrontation Clause
Can information supplied by a CI whose identity is not revealed really be used against you? The answer, in general, is yes, although exceptions could apply. In the US Supreme Court case Crawford v. Washington (2004), the Court held that the Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment did not bar the use of CI information unless it was “testimonial hearsay.” In order for CI information to be barred (i.e., for you to prevent CI information from being used against you in court without the opportunity for your lawyer to cross-examine the CI), the information must be “a statement” and it must be “testimonial.” Generally speaking, much CI information has not fallen into this category in subsequent cases.
In Indiana specifically, as Williams v. State (1996) clarifies, defendants do not have a right to confront a CI — meaning that information from a CI can be used against the defendant without revealing the CI’s identity — if the CI’s information is “not admitted for the truth of the matters asserted.” Further, in Vaughn v. State (2014), the court determined, in general, “statements made by a [CI] recorded in the course of a controlled drug buy [are] not offered by the State to prove the truth of the matter asserted,” and thus are not testimonial hearsay and can be used against a defendant.
Accordingly, it can be difficult to prevent a CI’s information from being used against you, but it may be possible to do so.
Contact an Indianapolis Drug Crimes Defense Lawyer Today
If you are facing drug charges involving evidence or information from a CI, it is essential to get in touch with one of the experienced Indianapolis drug crime defense attorneys at Rigney Law LLC today to find out about the best options for your defense.
Sources:
in.gov/isp/files/Confidential-Informants.pdf
oyez.org/cases/2003/02-9410
law.justia.com/cases/indiana/supreme-court/1996/49s00-9502-cr-248-4.html#:~:text=Appellant%20Robert%20C.,stood%20convicted%20of%20murder%2C%20Ind
