Walk It Through: The Knock With A Warrant
A search warrant at the door, an ounce on the dresser, a pipe, and cash the police take.
Officers knock at an apartment, announce they have a search warrant, and wait.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One search of one apartment. A sale or intent to deliver, a warrant served without notice, and the hearing on the money are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Notice of office and purposeThe announcement an officer gives before forcing entry. After giving notice of office and purpose and being refused admittance, an officer may break open a door or window.
- Written inventoryThe list of what officers took under a search warrant, made in the presence of the person if they are there, or before a credible witness, with a copy of the warrant and a receipt left behind.
- ForfeitureLosing property to the state because it was used in a drug crime. A petition for its disposition is filed within ten days of a seizure, and anyone with an interest may answer within thirty days after it.
- InfractionAn offense that is not a crime of any class. Where no other penalty is set, a first offense is a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
- Drug paraphernaliaEquipment used to manufacture, inject, ingest, inhale or otherwise take a controlled substance into the body. Using it, or possessing it with intent to use it that way, is an infraction.