Warden v. Hayden
Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court case that held that 'mere evidence' may be seized and held as evidence in a trial, allowing such evidence obtained in a search to be used. This finding reversed previous Supreme Court decisions such as Boyd v. United States which had held that search warrants may not be used as a means of gaining access to a man's house or office and papers solely for the purpose of making search to secure evidence to be used against him in a criminal or penal proceeding... Background of the case In the morning of March 17, 1962, an armed man robbed the Diamond Cab Company in Baltimore, Maryland. Two cab drivers followed the man to a house and relayed the information to the police, who arrived quickly. After the police knocked on the door and announced that they were searching for a robber seen entering the house, Mrs. Hayden consented to the search. A search of the premises revealed a gun and clothing, found in a washing machine, that matched the description of the armed man that had been reported by the cab company. Weapons were found in a