a few weeks ago, I had the police break down the door to my house and while I do not live in the home, I receive all my mail there. To this day, I still have not seen a search warrant nor has one been sent to me via mail. So I have no idea if one even exsisted. Additionally, it has come to my attention that the Judge. admitted to being in my home and has therefore recused himself from the case as it is a conflict of interest. I thought I was supposed to be served with a warrant either in person or via mail???
You need a lawyer, … now.
ahh forget it
A physical copy of the search warrant is generally delivered to the residents in the house, not to the landlord. (Just like any evidence found by the search is used in charges against the residents, not the landlord.) There is usually no particular reason that the police would be required to send you a copy of the search warrant.
But anyway, search warrants are legal documents, signed by a Judge. They are public documents (once they have been served), and are available from the Clerk of Court. Anyone can go there and ask for a copy. In fact, in many jurisdictions, they are now available online. So if you really want a copy, you can get one.
@ t-bonham@scc.net: at the time the warrant was “served”, the home was vacant so there was no one there to see or receive a physical copy of the warrant.
If you weren’t there, how could the police have served it in person?
The Judge was in your home? Do you two know each other on a personal basis?
Nobody has to be there to ‘receive’ it, legally.
If nobody is home, they leave a copy of the warrant in the house.
In fact, there’s an old police trick for that, if you don’t want the suspect to know that you searched their house. Get into their house without any damage to the door, search it as per your warrant, but carefully put everything back looking the way that it was. Then you have to leave a copy of the search warrant in the residence. So open the front hall closet, look for a winter coat (if it’s summertime) or a summer coat (if it’s wintertime), and place the warrant in the pocket of the first coat. You have complied with the legal requirements by leaving a copy of the warrant in the house. And if ever challenged, you have a very good explanation to give to the judge: “I placed the warrant in the pocket of the first coat in the closet, where the resident would be sure to find it.”
As far as I know, there is NO copy of the warrant that was left in the home..furthermore, they damaged my front door as it was padlocked from the outside. I contacted the Court earlier today and the court clerk refused to give me a copy of the warrant. I think the town is playing games with me. They have already made it explicitly clear that I am not welcome due to my being Gay.
Lawyer
Legal advice is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Armies of Lawyerbots
So the search was “weeks ago” and there is some sort of legal case involving you currently before a judge? How is it that you don’t already have a lawyer representing you? And if you do have an attorney, you should be asking him or her these questions.
Edited to add that even if you live in the Bible Belt, I very much doubt that your being gay has anything to do with anything.