What If the Police Searched Me Without a Warrant? Citrus Court Defense Attorney Explains

2013 & 2014 TOP ATTORNEY AWARD-WINNER LORGIO COIMBRA, THE COIMBRA LAW FIRM
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The general rule, enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution (and applicable to the states by way of the Fourteenth Amendment, i.e., “selective incorporation doctrine”) is that the police must have obtained a warrant from a judicial magistrate supported by an oath or affirmation of a belief in probable cause that a crime was committed and the person whom the police are interested in searching is the person who committed the crime (i.e., and the instrumentalities or fruits of the crime will be found with that person). In other words, Americans are supposed to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

An intelligent and strategic criminal defense attorney will challenge any warrantless search lacking probable cause. Evidence that the police obtain by a search or seizure that violates the Fourth Amendment is inadmissible in court. Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 367 643, 655.

However, like most rules, it is riddled with “exceptions.” In fact, through the decades, the Supreme Court has carved a variety of exceptions to the so-called “warrant requirement” encapsulated in the Fourth Amendment that make the latter look like the proverbial slice of “swiss cheese.” Absent a warrant, a search is only deemed reasonable if it falls among these “exceptions.” Riley v. California (2014) 134 S.Ct. 2473, 2482.

CHALLENGING A SEARCH WARRANT AS DEFECTIVE

Let’s examine the situation where the police have a warrant and your attorney is interested in challenging it’s validity. To be valid, a search warrant must meet several requirements:

First, it must be authorized by a judge, state or federal

Second, it must be based on probable cause, which essentially means that there are articulable facts to believe that a crime was committed and that the place to be searched will yield fruits or instrumentalities of that crime

Third, it must describe, with specificity, the area to be searched and the property or things that are be searched.

In order to SUCCESSFULLY challenge a search warrant, the warrant must lack one of the above requirements OR there must be a problem with the way in which the search was EXECUTED (i.e., carried out), for example, if the police EXCEEDED the scope of the search.

Suppose that, per a search warrant issued by a judge at the West Covina Courthouse, Carrie Cop was authorized to conduct a search of the property at 1717 Xavanax Way, Apartment B. However, Carrie executed not only a search of Apartment B, but of the adjacent apartments, including Units “A” and “C.” Galinsith lives in Unit C and Carrie uncovered instrumentalities of a meth operation in Galisinth’s apartment. Galisinth’s “west covina drug possession for sale charges defense attorney” will argue that Carrie acted beyond the parameters of the search warrant and, therefore, any evidence uncovered by this search should be excluded from evidence, effectively resulting in a dismissal of the case against him.

Some other reasons to successfully challenge a search warrant might be that the police officer’s statements averring to the existence of probable cause were intentionally misleading, or that the warrant lacked sufficient specificity about the area that was to be searched or that the judge who issued the search warrant harbored some bias that contaminated the objectivity of his decision to issue the warrant.

[Luisito]

What if you dont file pre trial motion to supress evidence, does thst wave your right to motion during trial?

[coimbralaw]

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[CreativeSolutions-iv]

The smell of weed is not cause to search vehicles