Warrants

Errors in warrants

It is inevitable that warrants will occasionally and inadvertently contain false information. If the mistake in the warrant is deemed to have been objectively reasonable, however, it will not necessarily invalidate the warrant.

In Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79 (1987), police officers accidentally obtained a warrant to search "the premises known as 2036 Park Avenue third floor apartment," despite the fact that two third floor apartments existed at the address. The United States Supreme Court determined that regardless of the error in the warrant, the officers' conduct was "consistent with a reasonable effort to ascertain and identify the place intended to be searched within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment." Thus, despite the incorrect language in the warrant, and the subsequent discovery of facts showing that the warrant was too broad (i.e., it did not state the address to be searched with particularity), the warrant was not retroactively invalidated because the mistake was objectively reasonable and understandable.

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Page last updated: 2/17/2007
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