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When is a search warrent valid?

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Greatlife

Junior Member
I live in Ohio. The police broke in my house and serched it for weed. I was arrested that day. I payed a bond and got out of jail. I read the search warrent that the police gave me. In the warrent it says that the police have three days to serve the warrent. Well the warrent was sighned on the 24th and they didn't serve the warrent untill the 28th. They also were supose to serve the warrent at night according to the warrent. But they came in the day time like at 2:30 pm. I wanna know are they alowed to do this? Didn't the police violate the terms of the warrent?
 


AirManLuke

Junior Member
???

Not sure man, talk to your lawyer or public defender about it, usually there is a specific time period in which the warrant must be served. The warrant, however is not valid without the signature of a judge, who has overlooked the probable cause listed for the warrant and approved of it. In that case, the police can generally search your residence whenever they would like within the time frame given. So if they were a day late like you said, MAKE SURE, if so, all the evidence collected against you(only during the time not specified on the warrant) can and will be thrown out in criminal court. I have heard of search warrants in CA where i live that can last as long as two weeks, unfortunately.

Also, on the warrant, it specifies what the police are searching for.....so if it says WEED and only weed, they cannot use anything else they find against you in a court of law during that search, like guns, other drugs. However, they can obtain another warrant for those items as soon as they can.

Hoped this helped

Oh, for helpful advice, research your states penal code for warrants under search and seizure.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
The warrant did not requre service at night, it was only endorsed for night service.

But, if it was served after it expired, there is a problem. However, the police may have a good faith exception to the warrant requirement and the search may be good anyway. You need to talk to your lawyer. Getting evidence excluded is hard and, in reality, the more severe the crime the less likely items excluded.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
Not sure man, talk to your lawyer or public defender about it, usually there is a specific time period in which the warrant must be served. The warrant, however is not valid without the signature of a judge, who has overlooked the probable cause listed for the warrant and approved of it. In that case, the police can generally search your residence whenever they would like within the time frame given. So if they were a day late like you said, MAKE SURE, if so, all the evidence collected against you(only during the time not specified on the warrant) can and will be thrown out in criminal court. I have heard of search warrants in CA where i live that can last as long as two weeks, unfortunately.

Also, on the warrant, it specifies what the police are searching for.....so if it says WEED and only weed, they cannot use anything else they find against you in a court of law during that search, like guns, other drugs. However, they can obtain another warrant for those items as soon as they can.

Hoped this helped

Oh, for helpful advice, research your states penal code for warrants under search and seizure.
You are wrong. You are extremely wrong.
 

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