Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: During Drug Trial

Whether you get to discover the identity of the informant depends on the facts and the charges. If the informant has information relevant to your guilt or innocence, you may have a right to the identity of that informant so that they may be called as a witness.

Typically, when the informant makes a controlled buy, the informant then reports to the police who sent him or her, the bust is made, and you are charged with sale of the drug involved.

If the informant is the only one who can identify you as the seller or possesser of the illegal drugs, then that informant is an essential witness. However, under some circumstances, the District Attorneys charge you only with possession for sale (a felony) based on the quantity of drugs found and other circumstances, such as packaging, pay/owe sheets, etc. Thus, the informant would not be relevant because you are not being charged with the actual sale involving the informant.

District Attorneys are reluctant to release an informant's identity because the informant has usually been promised anonymity. Thus, if ordered to disclose the identity, many times the D.A. will offer reduced charges or dismiss.

All of this depends on the facts of the case and whether the charges arise from the controlled buy made by the informant or from other information. Consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney, or your public defender, first about a suppression motion on the warrant (odds are slim) and, next, about a Hobbs motion to discover the identity of the informant.

Re: During Drug Trial

You do not necessarily get to face the informant, though you do get to face *someone* whose testimony links you to the drugs. Most likely this will be the officers who conducted the search.

And police with a warrant are allowed to enter and search a residence while the occupants are away. No one has to let them in; that's part of what the warrant is for.