Matthew J. Ruff Technology and Science Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Phoning It In, The Law of Telephone Search Warrants Explained by a Torrance Lawyer

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 by Matthew J. Ruff

California criminal statutes allow, as an alternative to written affidavits, Penal Code §1526(b)(1) permits sworn oral statements that are subsequently transcribed. For example, the affiant may phone the magistrate, state probable cause, and obtain the magistrate’s verbal authorization to sign the latter’s name to the warrant under Penal  Code §1528(b). According to one autoritative source, The resulting warrant is the so-called telephonic (or, more accurately, telephonically authorized) search warrant. The expression “telephonic search warrant” can give rise to the erroneous impression that the warrant itself is oral. All search warrants must be in writing says a local criminal attorney in torrance. The only thing different about a telephonic warrant is that the affiant signs the magistrate’s name to a duplicate original search warrant in the field.  These telephone warrants are commonplace in drug cases and other criminal investigations conducted by the police in the real world.
Posted at 00:57 AM
Topic: Technology and Science
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