Police come to your home with a warrant to search for drugs. As they go through your rooms and belongings, you are unsure where they are allowed to look. If officers find suspected drugs, you could face charges, even if you believe they went too far during the search.
The warrant and the facts police gave the judge can help you understand what officers had permission to do. Here are three things you can check to better understand whether police stayed within the limits of the search warrant.
1. Does the warrant identify the right home?
A warrant must describe the place police intend to search. If you live in an apartment building, the unit number helps officers tell your home apart from your neighbor’s.
An address error does not always make the search unlawful. A court may check the full description to decide whether officers had enough detail to identify the right home.
2. Did officers stay within the search limits?
A warrant tells police what they are looking for. This also helps determine where they can search. If the warrant lists drugs, officers may check drawers and other places where someone could hide them. However, that does not give officers permission to search spaces too small to hold the drugs they seek.
They might also find evidence of another crime during the search. If they find it lawfully and have probable cause to believe it relates to a crime, they can seize it.
3. Did the judge have enough facts?
A judge cannot approve a search warrant based on suspicion alone. Police must show probable cause, which means there is a fair chance they will find evidence of a crime at your home.
Officers often explain their reasons in a written statement called an affidavit. They swear that the information is true before submitting it to the judge. You may not receive a copy during the search. If the facts do not support searching your home, you could have grounds to challenge the warrant.
What happens if police go too far?
A court may exclude evidence if officers obtained it through an unlawful search. You might want to keep the warrant and request a copy of the list of items police took. Those records can help you review possible defenses to a drug charge.