United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57 (1924)

Hester v. United States

No. 243

Submitted April 24, 1924

Decided May 5, 1924

265 U.S. 57

Syllabus

1. In a prosecution for concealing spirits, admission of testimony of revenue officers as to finding moonshine whiskey in a broken jug and other vessels near the house where the defendant resided and as to suspicious occurrences in that vicinity at the time of their visit, held not violative of the Fourth or Fifth Amendments, even though the witnesses held no warrant and were trespassers on the land, the matters attested being merely acts and disclosures of defendant and his associates outside the house. P. 265 U. S. 58.

2. The protection accorded by the Fourth Amendment to the people in their "persons, houses, papers, and effects," does not extend to open fields. Id.

Affirmed.

Error to a judgment of the District Court sentencing the plaintiff in error, who was convicted by a jury of concealing distilled spirits in violation of Rev.Stats. § 3296.