Del. C. » Title 11 — Criminal Procedure Generally · CHAPTER 23. Search and Seizure · Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Delaware Code

11 Del. C. § 2308 (2026)

Search at nighttime

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section DE-DELCdelcode.delaware.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

A search warrant shall not authorize the person executing it to search any dwelling house in the nighttime unless the judge, justice of the peace or magistrate is satisfied that it is necessary in order to prevent the escape or removal of the person or thing to be searched for, and then the authority shall be expressly given in the warrant. For purposes of this section the term “nighttime” shall mean the period of time between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Code 1935, §§  5343-DD;  48 Del. Laws, c. 303;  11 Del. C. 1953, §  2308;  49 Del. Laws, c. 220, §  9;  63 Del. Laws, c. 308, §  1; 
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 12 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1975–2023 · leading case: Jones v. State, 745 A.2d 856 (Del. 1999).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Jones v. State, 745 A.2d 856 (Del. 1999). · cites it 2× “11 Del.C. § 2308. [49] The terms "vertical federalism" and "horizontal federalism" are attributable to G.”
Dunfee v. State, 346 A.2d 173 (Del. 1975). · cites it 2× “I Defendant argues that the warrant was improperly issued because the application for the warrant did not specifically show that it was “necessary to prevent the escape or removal of the person or thing to be searched for”; that, therefore, the documents did not meet the…”
Righter v. State, 704 A.2d 262 (Del. 1997). “In Hanna, this Court held that a casual overnight guest, not present during a nighttime search, had standing to object to the insufficiency of a night time search warrant issued under 11 Del.C. § 2308. In the ease sub judice, however, Righter is challenging the method of…”
State v. Richardson, 904 P.2d 886 (Haw. 1995). “2d at 1187 (quoting 11 Del.C. § 2308) (brackets in original), “there is no requirement that a nighttime search warrant list *4 exigent circumstances or contain a specific finding by the magistrate that probable cause exists to issue the nighttime warrant.”
Walker v. City of Wilmington, 579 F. Supp. 2d 563 (D. Del. 2008). “See 11 Del. C. § 2308. 11 .As discussed infra at section IV.”
State v. Rone (Del. Super. Ct. 2018). · cites it 3× “In contrast, the requirement for a finding of “probable cause to issue a nighttime warrant” stems from 11 Del. C. § 2308, and is a separate requirement in addition to the “probable cause to search” requirement that all warrants must satisfy.”
State v. Leonard (Del. Super. Ct. 2023). · cites it 2× “2 They further stipulate that the warrant did not justify a nighttime residential search because it did not meet the requirements of 11 Del. C. § 2308 (“Section 2308”). In relevant part, Section 2308 provides: [a] search warrant shall not authorize the person executing it to…”
State v. Spencer (Del. Super. Ct. 2023). · cites it 2× “THE STATE’S OPPOSITION The State contends the affidavit contained sufficient information to justify invocation of 11 Del. C. § 2308 and issuance of a nighttime search warrant.”
Andrea C. Beck v. John A. Greim c/o Bombay Woods Maint. Corp. (Del. Ch. 2016). “Beck is seeking a cease and desist order under 11 Del. C. § 2308 to stop alleged harassment and hate crimes by Respondent against her, and to enforce the deed restrictions, by- laws, and the certificate of incorporation of the Bombay Woods Maintenance Corporation (hereinafter…”
Garnett v. State (Del. 2023). “” 11 Del. C. § 2308. 117 Mason, 534 A.2d at 255.”
State of Delaware v. Monroe. (Del. Super. Ct. 2015). “” 29 A nighttime search warrant is appropriate where executing said warrant at night is “‘necessary’ to prevent the removal or destruction of potentially incriminating evidence.”30 Thus, a nighttime search warrant requires a “showing of exigent circumstances which make it…”
State of Delaware v. Lambert. (Del. Super. Ct. 2015). “Mason involved a nighttime warrant execution with additional statutory requirements fixed by 11 Del. C. § 2308. While the statute at issue in this case, 11 Del.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.