Illegal search & seizure

Asked on
Thursday, Nov 08, 2012

This halloween my boyfriends friend lead police on a high speed chase. At the time his girlfriend was at my house so he takes them by my house to let his girlfriend know what was going on. He does not live but since his girlfriend was there the police went to my house. I arrived @ lunch & walked right into the middle of everything. A the time of arrival i was detained, my house secured so no one could go in or out, was not allowed to go back to work & sat there from 1:30pm til about 10pm for offices to get a search warrant for my house. Once search warrant signed i was told it was on its way they would leave me a copy. They search the premises still not giving me a copy or the chance to see what or why they were searching my house. Apparently the friend of my boyfriend had some stolen stuff in our backyard that was in plain view as well as him throwing stuff out during the chase on property next to my house. Why would they search my house if he does not live there? Are they suppose to bring the victims of items taken to my house & walk them thru so see if anything else belonged to them. Also they stated things that belonged to me & my cousin were theres so we were arrested. They seized my cousins vehicle & still have it because the lady said her purse was her in which it wasnt her. Once out of jail, the search warrant left didnt have specific locations of where they were to search & did not include vehicles etc. There was no Judges signature & they did not list all items taken from my house which included things that belonged to me. THe whole situation seemed wrong & did not follow procedure in my view.

Answers

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Nov 13, 2012
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My answer to this question could fill pages. The police needed a warrant or consent to search your house. You were right in making them get a warrant. They are required to give you a copy of the warrant and a list of items they took. If the warrant was not actually signed by a judge, it is not really a warrant and any evidence should be suppressed. No, the police should not parade victims through your house during a search. The law on search and seizure is somewhat different for cars than houses. You should sit down with a criminal lawyer and go through this incident in great detail t see where you stand legally.