State v. McKinney, 368 N.C. 161

Anonymous citizen reported heavy, short-duration visitor traffic and observed what they believed was drug dealing at Apartment C, 302 Edwards Road. Police began surveillance the same day.
Officers observed a red Pontiac arrive; its driver, Roy Foushee, spent ~6 minutes in the apartment and then left. He was stopped for a traffic violation and found with $4,258 cash and a plastic bag with marijuana remnants.
Officers arrested Foushee and searched his phone; text messages minutes before the visit from a contact labeled "Chad" suggested negotiation/preparation for a drug transaction.
Officer Bradshaw applied for and obtained a search warrant for defendant Walter McKinney’s apartment based on the citizen tip, surveillance, Foushee’s stop, the cash and marijuana remnants, and the texts. The warrant was executed and drugs, paraphernalia, and a firearm were seized; McKinney was arrested.
McKinney moved to suppress, arguing the warrant lacked probable cause (insufficient nexus and unreliable tip); the trial court denied suppression. McKinney pleaded guilty but reserved the suppression issue and appealed; the Court of Appeals reversed. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, upholding the warrant.

Issue	State's Argument	McKinney's Argument	Held
Whether affidavit provided probable cause to search McKinney’s apartment	Totality (tip + surveillance + Foushee’s stop, cash, marijuana remnants, texts) established a fair probability contraband would be at the apartment	Citizen tip was vague/unreliable, no temporal detail; no proven nexus between Foushee’s car and the apartment	Warrant upheld: totality supported a magistrate’s probable-cause finding
Reliability of anonymous citizen tip	Corroboration by officers’ independent observations (surveillance and stop) made the tip reliable enough	Tip was a “naked assertion” lacking timing and detail	Tip sufficiently corroborated by surveillance and subsequent events
Nexus between vehicle stop evidence and residence	Texts timed minutes before visit plus immediate surveillance linked the stopped vehicle’s conduct to the apartment	No direct proof marijuana came from the apartment; visit could be innocent	Magistrate could reasonably infer connection; nexus satisfied under commonsense review
Proper scope of reviewing magistrate’s decision	Magistrate’s probable-cause determination deserves great deference; commonsense, totality review	Appellate courts should scrutinize when affidavit only supports a conclusory link	Applied deferential Gates/ Ventresca standard; reviewing court must find a substantial basis for magistrate’s conclusion

Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (establishes totality-of-circumstances, "fair probability" standard for probable cause)
United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102 (courts should not apply hypertechnical scrutiny to warrant affidavits)
State v. Campbell, 282 N.C. 125 (distinguishable: affidavit there lacked information linking dwelling to criminal activity)
State v. Riggs, 328 N.C. 213 (affidavit may support magistrate drawing reasonable inferences)
Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257 (reviewing court must ensure magistrate had substantial basis for concluding probable cause existed)