Search Warrants
A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find.
In Florida if there is a search warrant for your home or residence or apartment, you have certain rights and you have certain responsibilities – and law enforcement does as well.
For example, usually the search warrant is a surprise. You don’t know about it in advance, but it has to be signed by a court – a judge. It has to describe the area to be searched and the items in particular that can be seized with this or the focus of the search.
What you can do is call an attorney to attack the warrant after the fact.
If they have a valid warrant signed by a judge, they’re going to search the house. You can’t interfere with that process.
However, you can take note of what happens. You have a right to see the warrant, keep a copy of the warrant and give a copy to an attorney. Then we can look at it to see if there was in fact probable cause to search your home. We can attack that, and also whether they searched properly or took proper items into consideration when they did that search.
Often times that’s not the case, and we can attack the warrant and often times we are able to prevent the search items from being used against you in court.
I’m Jeff Quisenberry with the Fernandez Law Group. We can help.
CALL US TODAY AT 813-489-3222, USE OUR CONTACT FORM, EMAIL OR TEXT US FOR A FREE CONSULTATION AND CASE EVALUATION.
Florida law regarding search warrants:
2020 Florida Statutes, Chapter 933:
933.01 Persons competent to issue search warrant.—A search warrant authorized by law may be issued by any judge, including the committing judge of the trial court having jurisdiction where the place, vehicle, or thing to be searched may be.
933.02 Grounds for issuance of search warrant.—Upon proper affidavits being made, a search warrant may be issued under the provisions of this chapter upon any of the following grounds:
Upon proper affidavits being made, a search warrant may be issued under the provisions of this chapter upon any of the following grounds:
(2) When any property shall have been used:
(4) When any property is being held or possessed:
This section also applies to any papers or documents used as a means of or in aid of the commission of any offense against the laws of the state.