  Mystery
This week: Edited by: The Milkman  
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Turn the television set on and you will more than likely see a police/detective drama show unfolding in front of your eyes. Eventually the cops will be sent to a scene of a crime or a suspects house with a piece of paper that gives them the right to search. This paper is called a "Search Warrant". In this newsletter I'm going to discuss what one is, how it is obtained and what rights it provides to the searcher and the searchee. This should be good information for your mystery story, novel and real life.
This next excerpt I'm going to use comes from the book "Howdunit: How Crimes Are Committed and Solved" edited by John Boertlein.
1. In order for you to file for and obtain a search warrant you must be a law-enforcement officer. No search warrant can be issued to anyone who is not a law-enforcement officer.
2. You must prepare an affidavit, in duplicate, describing the area to be searched, the items you intend to search and why you expect to find those items in that location (probable cause). Prepare a search warrant in triplicate. Take the affidavits and warrants to a judge and swear to the affidavits. At that time, if the judge thinks your cause is probable enough, the judge signs the search warrants. The judge keeps one copy of the affidavit; you keep the other, along with all three copies of the search warrant.
3. You and however many more people you need to go to the scene. Unless the scene is already under the control of the police, as it usually is when you're searching the scene of a crime, or unless you have a no-knock warrant-- which is issued only if there is strong reason to suspect evidence will be destroyed in the time it takes for someone to open the door or strong reason to fear for the safety of the officers serving the warrant-- you knock on the door, announce yourselves as police officers and wait for somebody to come to the door.
4. Usually one officer(or more, if necessary) will corral all people on the scene and keep them confined to one area. It is courteous and good public relations, though not a legal requirement, to avoid frightening children or other innocent people unnecessarily.
5. Search for the items on the list. Make a list on the warrant itself-- in triplicate, because that's how many copies of the warrants you have-- of everything seized whether or not it was on the original list of items sought for.
6. You are not responsible for restoring the premises to the presearch condition. However, you should avoid unnecessary damage and take reasonable precautions for safeguarding property that belongs to the scene.
7. Leave one copy of the warrant, complete with detailed list of items seized, with the people in control of the place you searched. If nobody is there, leave a copy of the warrant displayed in a prominent place. Keep one warrant for your files, and return one to the court that issued the warrant.(/i}
Now that you know the who and the how of getting a search warrant lets look into some of the pitfalls that can be easily overlooked. Let me create an example then pose a couple of questions.
You and a team of policemen obtained a search warrant for a prime suspect in a murder investigation. The warrant and affidavits clearly give you permission to search the house and its contents the size of a refrigerator. One of your rookie officers finds a gun in a dresser drawer in the suspects bedroom. In an unattached garage another police officer finds a piece of carpet cut from the victims house inside of the suspects car. And you find an 18th century China Hutch known to have belonged to the victim.
Which, if any, of the collected evidence is admissable in court?
SInce your search warrant only mentioned the house and not any out-buildings like garages or shed. The Carpet found in the car is inadmissable. Another thing about vehicles, if they aren't listed on the warrant as a seperate item the car is off-limits to your police detectives.
The gun is also inadmissable, even if it is the murder weapon, because the smallest item listed to search was a refrigerator. If your policeman found the gun in a block of ice in the freezer it is admissable since the freezer compartment is part of the fridge.
The hutch is admissable in court since it is bigger than a fridge.
Of course this was an overstated example because I wanted to show the importance of the wording in requesting the search warrant. In fiction you might not have to jump through as many legal hoops but I wouldn't want you to write a novel and have it thrown off a publishers desk because your criminal was going to get off with a technicality.
When having your characters conduct these searches don't be afraid to have them look in some of the most bizarre places. "Howdunit" gave some examples from real searches as to where they found evidence places like holes in wall, garbage cans, lipstick tubes, etc.
In the weeks to come I encourage you to obtain a search warrant and put it to good use with your detective charater in mind.
Thanks for reading,
The Milkman |
Here are a couple of examples of how obtaining a Search Warrant can be entered into your writings, plus a couple of Mystery items that I enjoyed reading this week.
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And now for you Sherlock Holmes buffs I found a great contest for you to peruse and hopefully enter:
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#1147180 by Not Available. |
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Mystery: August 30, 2006 Issue [#1232]
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