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USMJ's failure to sign a warrant did not make it void; it was otherwise properly issued

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

There was sufficient indicia of proper issuance of an unsigned search warrant to make the search warrant valid. The Fourth Amendment does not require a warrant be signed if it was reviewed and otherwise properly issued by the issuing magistrate. This is an issue of first impression in the Third Circuit. United States v. Jackson, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3838 (M.D. Pa. January 17, 2008): Provided that a search warrant is applied for in person, the text of neither the Fourth Amendment nor Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41 requires the issuing authority to sign the warrant. See U.S. CONST. amend. IV; FED. R. CRIM. P. 41(e)(3)(D) (limiting the requirement that an issuing authority must "immediately sign the original warrant" to telephonic warrants); see also United States v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 20, 2008 (boomark / email).