Reading A Search Warrant
W. Va. Code § 62-1A-4 — executed within ten days, a copy and a receipt, and notice before breaking in
Ten days. A search warrant may be executed and returned only within ten days after its date.
The officer taking property gives the person a copy of the warrant and a receipt, or leaves them at the place. The return comes with a written inventory, and the judge or magistrate gives a copy on request.
Notice at a dwelling. The officer may break in to execute a warrant, but at a dwelling may not attempt a forcible entry until giving notice of authority and purpose and being refused admittance.
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.
Whether a particular warrant was valid is a question for a court and a licensed West Virginia attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- W. Va. Code § 62-1A-4 — Search warrant; execution and return with inventory
- W. Va. Code § 62-1A-5 — Breaking and entering premises
- 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 West Virginia attorney.