Illegal Search
& Seizure
Rights Protection
- ✓ 4th Amendment Specialists
- ✓ Probable Cause Scrutiny
- ✓ Warrant Requirement Defense
- ✓ Suppression of Evidence
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
Fourth Amendment Attorneys Who Will Protect Your Rights
Defendants have rights in the United States legal system, and one of the most important is protection against illegal search and seizure. This means the authorities must follow legal guidelines when gathering evidence to use against someone. It's the job of the defense lawyer to ensure that police did indeed follow proper protocol and to fight zealously to ensure their clients' rights have been respected.
These are rights that come straight from the Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things."
Within this simple paragraph lie several wide-ranging implications that remain vital to search and seizure defense strategies in our technologically advanced world. The first and most critical is that of probable cause.
What Is Probable Cause?
Let's consider an example: A defendant is charged with mail fraud. The evidence is on a home computer. The police come with a warrant and find the evidence. Case closed, right? Not necessarily.
The first question to ask is why the police sought the search warrant in the first place. To secure the warrant, a police officer must provide a sworn affidavit to a judge asserting the officer's belief that relevant evidence would turn up in the search. That belief must be reasonably backed up by supporting facts.
In other words, a search cannot just "get lucky." If legitimate probable cause did not exist, then the entire basis for the warrant is undermined—and the defendant was the victim of an illegal search and seizure.
Search Warrants Must Be Specific
The Fourth Amendment requires warrants to "particularly describe" what is to be searched. This translates into highly specific authorizations for police officers:
Residential Searches
A warrant to search a house typically covers all rooms within that structure. However, searching nearby vehicles or separate garages often falls into a legal "gray area" that requires careful scrutiny.
Digital & Computer Privacy
Computers demand a higher standard of specificity. Unless a warrant explicitly authorizes digital search of a device, logging into and examining a computer may constitute a constitutional violation—even if a general residential warrant exists.
The Exclusionary Rule
When evidence is obtained through an illegal search, our attorneys move to have that evidence "suppressed" or excluded from trial. Without the evidence obtained through unconstitutional means, the prosecution's case often collapses. We examine every detail of the warrant and the execution of the search to identify these critical vulnerabilities.
What We Examine in Every Case
- • Was the warrant based on sufficient probable cause?
- • Did the warrant particularly describe the place, items, or persons to be searched?
- • Was the search scope limited to what the warrant authorized?
- • Were there consent exceptions that applied?
- • Was evidence discovered in "plain sight" or beyond the scope of the warrant?
Even if evidence of guilt exists, an illegal search may result in that evidence being thrown out entirely—fundamentally weakening or destroying the prosecution's case.