The Complete Search Warrant, Annotated
[Pages:164]The Complete Search Warrant, Annotated
Consolidated Edition
By
Albert M. Rosenblatt
NEW YORK STATE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM
November 2004
Copyright ? 2005 New York State Unified Court System
All rights reserved
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, Albert M. Rosenblatt is a Judge on the New York Court of Appeals and former Chief Administrative Judge of New York State. Before that, he had been Dutchess County's District Attorney and then served on the County Court, Supreme Court, and Appellate Division, Second Department. He has written on a variety of legal and popular topics.
He and his wife Julia, a writer and former Vassar College professor, live in Dutchess County. Their daughter, Betsy, is an attorney in California, specializing in intellectual property.
PREFACE
"Where is your warrant?" This question has been asked countless times, but rarely with more drama than in "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax," a Sherlock Holmes adventure. The villain, a bogus preacher named Holy Peters, was unlawfully secreting his victim and Holmes demanded entry. On his side, the great detective had only justice and a revolver. Where was the warrant? Holmes half drew the revolver from his pocket and replied, "This will have to serve till a better one comes," Holmes explained. The approach worked well for Sherlock Holmes but will not do for American law enforcement officials. A revolver can be as effective as a warrant, and may even produce prompter compliance, but given the exclusionary rule, it would be uneconomical to trade in this modest volume for a Colt .45. This is the most recent incarnation of a work that I wrote as a prosecutor in 1973. Much has happened over the ensuing 31 years. The cases (not to mention the writer) have grown older but the inventory has been replenished several times over, and so what began as a 44 page work has grown to 120 pages. In 1973 the piece was published by the New York State District Attorneys' Association, under the able aegis of Richard L. Friedman. I updated the work for a few years, with the help of the Bureau of Prosecution and Defense Services, expertly directed by Bill Dowling and Michael Gross. 1997 saw a revised edition, and so the work stood until this past year. In preparing it, I relied not only on the abundant body of decisional law but on a number of publications, particularly the excellent treatises by Judge William C. Donnino (New York Court of Appeals on Criminal Law), Barry Kamin's book on New York Search and Seizure, and Wayne R. LaFave's Search and Seizure volumes. In addition, and with their eagle eyes, Judge Donnino and Judge Steven W. Fisher read the manuscript and made a number of valuable suggestions that I have included in the text. At a judicial training event at our Pace Law School facility, Judge Juanita Bing Newton generously commented
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that the work was still on its feet (although a bit wobbly with age, I submit), and that her office would publish a new version. She offered to have her staff collate the earlier editions and their supplements. This took not only astute computers but the energy and creativity of Justin Barry, who designed the program for the table of contents and more, Ellen Magid who diligently helped stitch together all the previous editions, and Janine Zanin, who aided immeasurably in updating the version immediately preceding this one. I thank them all for their valued contributions, along with Lisa DellAquila, and Justin Long for their helpful comments.
ALBERT M. ROSENBLATT
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
I . Affidavit for Search Warrant
1
II. Search Warrant
15
III. Annotated Footnotes (by Footnote Number)
19
1. Proper Court to Issue Warrant
19
2. Authorizing Search of More Than One Person, Place, or Vehicle
22
3. Preciseness of Description of Premises -- Misdescription
25
4. Vehicle Defined .
29
5. Certainty of Identification of Known Target
29
6. Search of Person Wherever Found
30
7. Search of Any Person "Thereat or Therein"
31
8. Applicant's Use of Fictitious Name
35
9. Public Servant Defined
36
10. Probable Cause (Reasonable Cause)
37
11. Anticipatory Search Warrant; Controlled Delivery
38
12. Matching Descriptions
40
13. Description of Property To Be Seized
41
14. Stolen Property ? Basis For Conclusion
42
15a-c Particularity of Description; Overbreadth
42
16. Mere Evidence ? Contraband ? Plain View
44
17. Requirement For Factual Recitation of Specific Acts of Crime
46
18. Police Deponent ? Direct, Knowledgeable Observations ?
Reliability
46
19. Manner of Acquisition of Proof ? Use or Exploitation of Illegal
Evidence ? Independent Source
49
20. Staleness
52
21. Specificity of Location
55
22. Reliability of Confidential Informant
56
23. Basis of Confidential Informant's Knowledge
61
24. Verification of Confidential Informant's Assertions
64
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PAGE
25. Informant's Declarations Against Penal Interest
66
26. Sworn Testimony or Production of Confidential Informant
68
27. Facts Not Included in Affidavits But Presented When Warrant Is
Issued ? Method of Recording
69
28. Citizen-Informant ? Crime Victim
71
29. Establishing Reliability
72
30. Prior Record of Suspect
72
31. Nighttime (Anytime) Search Warrants
73
32. No-Knock Warrants
75
33. Directive For Search and Seizure
78
34. Searching For Suspect in Third Person's Premises
78
35. Subscribing and Swearing to the Application
79
36. Jurat
80
37. Name of Court
80
38. Person or Agency to Whom Search Warrant is Issued; Failure to
Address Warrant to Particular Police Agency
81
39. Authorization and Directive
82
40. Description of Property
82
41. Identification of Place, Premises, or Person
82
42. Authorization to Search Any Person "Thereat or Therein"
83
43. Execution of Warrant: Where and When
83
44. Return of Warrant
85
45. Dating the Warrant
86
46. Signing the Warrant
87
IV. Discussion Items
89
1. The Value of a Search Warrant
89
2. Burden of Proof
90
3. Administrative Searches
91
4. Disclosure of Informant
94
5. A Search Is Measured by the Proof in Existence at Its Inception
98
6. Searching in Defendant's Absence
98
7. Searching Parolees
99
8. Motions to Suppress
100
9. Post-Issuance: Controverting the Veracity of the Proof
102
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