Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 49
and excessive destruction of property when executing a search
warrant. However, as the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in U.S. v.
Ramirez, 523 U.S. 65, 73 (1998), this violation does not mean that
the evidence against you should be thrown out. See the previous
chapter’s discussion of the exclusionary rule. Practically speaking,
the police can justify highly destructive acts in the course of their
search. If it is “necessary” in the execution of the search warrant,
the police may go as far as ripping up your carpets or tearing open
your furniture to find what they are looking for.
3. How long do the police have to execute a warrant?
Article 18.06 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure states that
a search warrant must be executed within three days, exclusive of
the date the warrant was signed and the final date the warrant is
valid. Though the code describes this as a “three-day” requirement,
in practice it amounts to five days. For example, a warrant that is
signed on Monday must be executed on or before Friday. Is Friday
three days from Monday? No, but excluding Monday (the date
it was signed) and Friday (the final date the warrant is valid) the
three-day requirement is met.
4. What if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time?
You are at a friend’s home when the police knock on the door with
a search warrant for that address; what happens to you, the innocent
bystander? In the event that the police do not have probable cause
to arrest or search other individuals present at the scene, they
may be temporarily detained during the course of the search for
purposes of controlling the scene, officer safety, the preservation of
evidence, or checks for outstanding arrest warrants. Additionally,
an arrest outside a house, depending on the circumstances, can
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