When the police have a search warrant does the property owner have to be present when the search is conducted?
March 7th, 2010 | by admin |i am working on a mock trial in school and the police have a search warrant to search the property for illegal drugs, they visit the residence, but the residence owner isn’t home, only a house guest who stayed the night and the police searched anyway. Is that a valid search or does the property owner need to be home? and if you can cite some documents either way that would be most appreciated. thanks!
but there are no emergency circumstances, the police are conducting a search to recovery any date rape drugs which may be in the home, but the owner of the home isn’t home and his house guest is, but the house guest clearly has no control over the actions in the home
No
7 Responses to “When the police have a search warrant does the property owner have to be present when the search is conducted?”
By savexourxship1121 on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
No
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By RedG on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
No, the owner does not need to be home. For example, lets say that the police have information that someone may be hurt in the home but the owner is not there. It doesn’t make sense to wait because the person may be dead by then. That’s the whole point of a warrant. Now, if the owner is there and says they can search, well they don’t need a warrant anyway.
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By Ollie on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
I just got a B+ in Criminal Procedure, the answer is NO the owner of the home doesn’t need to be home.
If the police have a warrant, the fact that there are no emergencies is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is, with a warrant, the police are coming in whether they like it or not.
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By BJK on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
I really don’t know, but according to my brother, he says they can search the home. But i am providing a link that has some info about warrants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_warrant
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wikipedia
By Mr Placid on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
No requirement that the owner of the premises be present during execution of a valid search warrant. U.S. v. Gervato, 474 F.2d 40 (3rd Cir. 1973), cert. denied 414 U.S. 864.
In fact, police may force entry if no occupants are present, or if occupants do not open the door within a reasonable time after the police request entry.
Edit: Here is a link to the case.
http://altlaw.org/v1/cases/541080
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By M-420 on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
Noo
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By nice_n_easy on Mar 7, 2010 | Reply
When the police search the property armed with a search warrant, as long as there must be at least a person within the property is enough to proceed with the search.
As you have said there is one house guest within the property who stayed the night and the police search anyway, yes I think it is valid to search the area. The logical explaination could be that the police doesn’t have to go back and forth to the said property just waiting for any person or even the owner to shows up. What if the owner doesnot shows up because he was already tip off of the warrant naturally the owner will not show his face anymore in his property.
No need for the owner to be home to search his house/property as long as there is at least a person living there at the time of the search. Well in this case, the house guest is at home so the search proceded. Even if there is no living soul inside the house, with the search warrant, and with a probable cause, the police can storm into the said house/property to seize the object they want, since it is written in the search warrant which of the property they need to search for. It must be specific in nature, but mostly the entire house is written there in the search to cope with the effort of the law enforcer to find what they need.
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