It was not until the case of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961), that the exclusionary rule was deemed to apply to state courts as well.

On December 21, 1911, Fremont Weeks, the plaintiff in error and defendant, was arrested by a police officer at the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, where an express company employed him.

Weeks was convicted of using the mails for the purpose of transporting lottery tickets, in violation of the Criminal Code.

Officers entered the house of the defendant without a search warrant and took possession of papers and articles, which were turned over to the US marshals.

The officers returned later on the same day with the marshal, still without a warrant, and seized letters and envelopes that they found in the drawer of a chiffonier.