Police officers typically need search warrants to conduct thorough searches of private residences, business facilities, mobile devices or vehicles. A search warrant signed by a judge is the strongest legal authorization for a law enforcement search.
Police officers who have compelling reason to believe that there is evidence present at a business, within a residence, in the digital records of a device or inside a motor vehicle can ask a judge to sign a warrant allowing them to search for that evidence. Police officers should be honest and make any claims about the potential evidence in good faith.
Unfortunately, police officers may exaggerate or even fabricate information to secure a warrant in the hopes that no one scrutinizes their claims later. Those facing charges based on evidence discovered during a search could theoretically suppress evidence by working with a criminal defense attorney to challenge the good faith basis of the search warrant.
Warrant review can help defendants
Minor mistakes with search warrants, including a missing signature or the wrong physical address, can allow individuals to deny police officers access to conduct a search. Issues with an otherwise valid warrant could undermine the usefulness of the evidence found during the search. A criminal defense attorney could also help show that a warrant was not valid because an officer intentionally provided inaccurate information to a judge.
A defense attorney could also theoretically show that a judge failed to uphold their duty to act as a neutral arbitrator of the law and instead began approving warrants without reviewing the requests appropriately. If the affidavit submitted to the courts to request a warrant has such limited information that other police officers couldn’t treat its contents as probable cause, then there may be questions about whether the warrant is valid and the officers searched in good faith.
Prosecutors can counter attempts to set aside or suppress evidence due to an invalid warrant by showing that police officers acted in good faith while executing the warrant. Defense attorneys can potentially counter that strategy by showing that the warrant contains such minimal information that most officers would recognize the lack of probable cause.
Additionally, if there is proof that officers engaged in misconduct to secure the warrant, then that can prevent the prosecutor from alleging they acted in good faith while executing it. Successfully challenging a warrant can lead to the exclusion of evidence, which can make mounting a defense easier or justify the dismissal of pending criminal charges.
Reviewing the details of pending charges and search warrants used to gather evidence with a skilled legal team can help criminal defendants explore their options. Suppressing evidence by challenging the validity of a search warrant is a common criminal defense tactic that can help those facing unfair prosecution following a questionable search.
