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bench warrant search of house, Legal??

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jestersmom

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?[FONT=]undefined[/FONT] :confused: What is the name of your state? Pa. My son had a bench warrant issued for him for getting behind in restitution payments. Sheriff's (3) came to house to serve. Asked if there was a certain car in the driveway and they said "No" . Told them he was at work and not here. They said that they had to come in and search the house. Is searching the house part of serving a bench warrant?? Because they found some things that he was growing in the house (without my knowledge) and then the local police got a search warrant and completely looked through the house and found numerous growing items and all the apparatus that goes along with it. Is that search legal??
 


S

Shay-Pari'e

Senior Member
jestersmom said:
What is the name of your state?[FONT=]undefined[/FONT] :confused: What is the name of your state? Pa. My son had a bench warrant issued for him for getting behind in restitution payments. Sheriff's (3) came to house to serve. Asked if there was a certain car in the driveway and they said "No" . Told them he was at work and not here. They said that they had to come in and search the house. Is searching the house part of serving a bench warrant?? Because they found some things that he was growing in the house (without my knowledge) and then the local police got a search warrant and completely looked through the house and found numerous growing items and all the apparatus that goes along with it. Is that search legal??
Click to expand...
Sounds like both warrants were good warrants, so what your question again>
 
CdwJava

CdwJava

Senior Member
In most every state, an arrest warrant will permit sufficient cause for officers to look inside the suspect's residence for the suspect.

- Carl
 
S

Scrutinizer

Junior Member
An arrest warrant carries with it the authority to search that person's home for him, but not to search a 3rd person's home.
 
B

Bravo8

Member
In Pennsylvania, the simple existence of an arrest warrant doesn't permit a search of the wanted person's home. If the police (or Sheriff's Office) has probable cause to believe the person is inside the home, then they could search the house for that person.

You do raise an interesting point, though. Can the police use the unlawful (at least it appears unlawful based upon the facts you presented) search of the home by a different law enforcement agency to justify their probable cause in obtaining a search warrant? I'll have to look into that.
 
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