While we hear about them a lot, most folks have little idea how police get a search warrant. South Carolina criminal defense attorney Rob Usry unlocks the secret of how police get a search warrant, and reveals two surprising things about them: you might have a defense, and when you defend it.
Transcript
Folks were talking about how search warrants work. The first thing you need to know is the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires search warrants to be issued only on probable cause. Police have to prove probable cause through an affidavit, that's a sworn statement. That can also be supplemented by testimony in front of the issue and judge, usually a magistrate. At a minimum the affidavit needs to provide, number one a description of the place to be searched and that's got to be fairly specific. Number two, the items police expect to find there and it can't just say evidence of a crime. They’ve got to be kind of specific about those items as well. Third, it's got to state why the police think they'll find the evidence they're looking for there and it's got to tie that area to criminal activity in the recent past, if it doesn't it can be invalidated. Based on that the magistrate decides probable cause which for a search warrant is whether there's a fair probability evidence of the crime will be found in the place to be searched based on the affidavit.
So if you've been served with a search warrant or you're the subject of a search warrant here's what you need to know. Even if it's served on you it can still be invalidated later. If you can test it and a reviewing judge agrees the search warrants invalidated, you can have all the evidence in your case as a result of that search warrant thrown out of evidence. That can get your case dismissed or get you a deal that you can live with no doubt about it you need a criminal defense lawyer who is skilled in these matters the police are after you. They have just searched your stuff with the judges of proof this isn't going away you need a professional on your side to keep everybody on guard and honest and make sure that your rights aren't violated.
If you are the subject of a search warrant or got charged as a result of one call us to start building your defense today. I thank you for thinking about this with me and I hope I see you.
