Reading A Search Warrant
Idaho Code § 19-4412 and Idaho Code § 19-4413 — daytime unless the warrant says otherwise, fourteen days, and a receipt for what is taken
A search warrant is a written order in the state's name, signed by a magistrate, judge or justice, directing an officer to search for and seize property. The magistrate issues one on being satisfied there is probable cause, and it commands the search of the person or place named for the property specified.
Daytime unless it says otherwise. The warrant directs service in the daytime, unless the affidavits are positive that the property is in the place, in which case it may allow service at any time of day or night.
Fourteen days. A warrant must be executed and returned within fourteen days after its date, and is void after that unless executed.
After giving notice of authority and purpose and being refused admittance, the officer may break open a door or window to execute the warrant. The officer gives a detailed receipt for property taken to the person it was taken from, or leaves it where the property was found.
How a warrant is served is also measured by the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that whether officers knocked and announced their presence before entering is part of whether the entry was reasonable, and that the knock and announce principle forms part of that analysis rather than being a rigid rule without exceptions. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
A warrant may be issued on an affidavit related by telephone. Whether a particular warrant was valid is a question for a court and a licensed Idaho attorney.
Sources for this section (7)
- Idaho Code § 19-4401 — Search warrant defined
- Idaho Code § 19-4406 — Issuance of warrant
- Idaho Code § 19-4409 — Service of warrant, breaking open doors
- Idaho Code § 19-4411 — Service of warrant at night
- Idaho Code § 19-4412 — Time for executing warrant
- Idaho Code § 19-4413 — Receipt for property taken
- Wilson v. Arkansas, 514 U.S. 927 (1995) — Knocking and announcing is part of whether an entry is reasonable
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Idaho attorney.