This past Friday my husband I were served a search warrant. The warrant says for probable cause. That is it. I asked to call my lawyer and they would not let me use the phone period. The search warrant said that is was to be done in the day time (7:30am-8:00pm) they didn't leave until well after 9:30pm. They were looking for (on the warrent) things to do with marijuana trafficking. They found baggies, scales, no pot but maybe some shake (less than one gram) They collected the "evidence" and left without telling us anything. No court date nothing. They later told my husband that they had him for trafficking but, if someone wore a wire on him that would be enough to indict him right? Why if they had such hard evidence why was no on arrested at the time of the search. Are they trying to get info? Please help. Thanks

Are they trying to get info? Please help. thanks

Hello trista:

I think they are. I would hire a lawyer - a very good lawyer. There is an affidavit that was sworn out to get the search warrant. Your lawyer, or even you, can get a copy. That is going to answer some of your questions.

Other than that, you're just going to have to wait to see how things shake out.

excon

Yes a search warrant is given on probable cause for a warrant, it is a lot less evidence than needed to arrest. They would need a buy or a informant that is trusted to merely say you do it.

And no you do not have the right to call an attorney when they are doing their search. All you have the right to do is let them search.

And yes if the search takes longer, all they have to do is come to your door between the houses listed, if they stay longer because of a lot of things to look though, it just does.

If they had enough at the time of the search warrant they would have arrested him, but now after looking at what they found, the DA may or may not decide to press charges, or they may take it to a grand jury to get an inditment

And remember police officers are allowed to lie to you when they question you.

Prosectors like to build a iron clad case. Maybe someone wore a wire, but the transcript isn't solid enough to go to court. So they used the info provided in the wire to obtain the search warrant.

Also the warrant probably specified a time range during when it must be served, but I doubt if it specified that the search had to end within that time. As long as the warrant was served prior to 8PM, then it was done properly.

Also, its not unusual for a warrant to be executed but no arrest made. They may want to wait until they review all the evidence. They may also be trying to give you some rope to hang yourself. If you try to flee, that could be used as evidence of guilt.

So what you NEED to do now is what excon suggested. Get an attorney who can obtain the application for the warrant. See what it was based on.

Nothing is for sure but, the cops can make anything look the way the want them to. Point blank. I wasn't involed with anything but, hey I lived here and they don't care. We will see what is going on. But for right now they have us in the dark for a reason. The reason I am not sure of. I just think if they had my hubby on tape that they would have served a arrest warrant the day of the search warrant since he is from chicago Il. And we live in my home town in Ohio.