Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden

Mr. Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court.

We review in this case the validity of the proposition that there is under the Fourth Amendment a “distinction [*296] between merely evidentiary materials, on the one hand, which may not be seized either under the authority of a search warrant or during the course of a search incident to arrest, and on the other hand, those objects which may validly be seized including the instrumentalities and means by which a crime is committed, the fruits of crime such as stolen property, weapons by which escape of the person arrested might be effected, and property the possession of which is a crime.” [1]

A Maryland court sitting without a jury convicted respondent of armed robbery. Items of his clothing, a cap, jacket,- and trousers, among other things, were seized during a search of his home, and were admitted in evidence without objection. After unsuccessful state court proceedings, he sought and was denied federal habeas corpus relief in the District Court for Maryland.[2] A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed. 363 F. 2d 647. The Court of Appeals believed that Harris v. United States, 331 U. S. 145, 154, sustained the validity of the search, but held that respondent was correct in his contention that the clothing seized was improperly admitted in evidence because the items had “evidential value only” and therefore were not [*297] lawfully subject to seizure. We granted certiorari. 385 U. S. 926. We reverse.[3]