Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

CA8: Statutory territorial jurisdiction of state judge to issue SW irrelevant under Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The statutory territorial jurisdiction of a state judge to issue a search warrant is irrelevant for Fourth Amendment purposes. United States v. Neil, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 1502 (8th Cir. January 25, 2011) (unpublished): Neil argues that the Dallas County judge lacked statutory authority to issue a search warrant for his residence in Polk County. He contends that under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 542.266, the issuing judge was required to be a judicial officer in Polk County. Accordingly, he asserts, the warrant was invalid and the evidence discovered through the execution of the warrant must be suppressed and his conviction reversed. But Neil’s contention “fails to recognize that ‘in determining whether evidence obtained solely by state officers is admissible in federal court in the first instance, it is usually irrelevant whether a state rule of criminal procedure was violated...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 27, 2011 (boomark / email).