QUESTION:
Our home was raided by police with a warrant they found 7 gm of meth. All that was in the house was a half gram. Where the rest come from i can only guess. we bailed out waiting for court but D.A. never filed charges on two different dated. Case dismissed. All most 2 month to the day we were raided once again. Police found 1/2 pound. The search warrated they used was the same one they used on the first raid but with the date cross out and a new date was hand written in and signed by a different judge. Can they used that warrant without new evendents?
ANSWER:
Generally, search warrants are only valid for ten days. You have an unusual factual situation. I’ve never come across the same warrant essentially being used twice. The fact that the warrant has a crossed out and handwritten date will likely not render the search illegal. (More legal documents than one might expect have handwritten corrections, especially at the trial court level.) Another difficulty is the presumption that a search made pursuant to a warrant is valid. But what might invalidate the search of your home would be the use of completely identical declarations in support of the request for a warrant to conduct two searches two months apart. I emphasize the word “might.” Now, the copy of the warrant you were provided likely did not have the supporting declarations but these can potentially be obtained with a motion to traverse the warrant if a criminal case is filed against you. I have never litigated this exact issue and I suspect it might be too specific to have a quickly identifiable precedent. I should also add that the advice provided on Avvo should not relied on because it is never based on a complete knowledge of the facts of any case. Avvo should be used as a pointer to further areas of research or professional representation.
