Jones v. United States

362 U.S. 257 (1960)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D was charged with having 'purchased, sold, dispensed and distributed' narcotics in violation of 26 U. S. C. § 4704 (a), and 21 U. S. C. § 174 with having 'facilitated the concealment and sale of' the same narcotics, knowing them to have been imported illegally into the United States. D was arrested in an apartment by federal narcotics officers, who were executing a warrant to search for narcotics. Those officers found narcotics, without appropriate stamps, and narcotics paraphernalia in a bird's nest in an awning just outside a window in the apartment. Another officer, stationed outside the building, had a short time before saw D put his hand on the awning. Upon the discovery of the narcotics and the paraphernalia, D admitted to the officers that some of these were his and that he was living in the apartment. D moved to suppress the evidence claiming that the warrant had been issued without a showing of probable cause. D alleged neither ownership of the seized articles nor an interest in the apartment greater than that of an 'invitee or guest.' D testified that the apartment belonged to a friend, Evans, who had given him the use of it, and a key, with which D had admitted himself on the day of the arrest. D testified that he had a suit and shirt at the apartment, that his home was elsewhere, that he paid nothing for the use of the apartment, that Evans had let him use it 'as a friend,' that he had slept there 'maybe a night,' and that at the time of the search, Evans had been away in Philadelphia for about five days. The court denied the motion holding that D had a lack of standing to make it. At trial, the motion to suppress was renewed and was denied on the basis of the prior ruling. The Court of Appeals affirmed. This appeal resulted.