Q: Can an officer swear to the reliability of a witness in an affidavit and then not rely on what the witness said he witne
My accuser alledges that I sold him methamphetamine in a camper trailer on the back of a piece of property. The informant ,who was conducting a controlled buy on my accuser, said my accuser walked down the driveway and stepped behind a shed and stood there the entire time .he said my accuser didn't enter any of the buildings.and that nobody else was there. The officer said the CI said my accuser disappeared behind a shed and returned a short while later. I believe this is a lie by omission. How do I proceed?
A:
Perhaps one of the most common misconceptions, and hardest to convince clients of, is the fact that police reports are not evidence. At some point, if you go to trial, the prosecutor will need to have those individuals testify; your attorney might be able to ask them questions about the inconsistencies. But inconsistencies are not inherently lies. It's not uncommon for two witnesses, for example, to give differing descriptions (e.g. one says the person wore a red shirt; the other witness says it was blue).
Let your lawyer know of what you found. But it's probably not going to amount to much. At some point, your accuser didn't have drugs on him, but then later appeared with them and says he got them from you. Unless you can prove you were somewhere not even in the vicinity, it sounds like the trail leads to you, and that's exactly the testimony that the prosecutor will elicit at trial.
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