Syfert Injury Law Firm

Your Trusted Partner in Personal Injury & Workers' Compensation

Call Now: 904-383-7448

2018 Georgia Code 17-5-25 | Car Wreck Lawyer

TITLE 17 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Section 5. Searches and Seizures, 17-5-1 through 17-5-100.

ARTICLE 2 SEARCHES WITH WARRANTS

17-5-25. Execution of search warrant generally.

The search warrant shall be executed within ten days from the time of issuance. If the warrant is executed, the duplicate copy shall be left with any person from whom any instruments, articles, or things are seized; or, if no person is available, the copy shall be left in a conspicuous place on the premises from which the instruments, articles, or things were seized. Any search warrant not executed within ten days from the time of issuance shall be void and shall be returned to the court of the judicial officer issuing the same as "not executed."

(Ga. L. 1966, p. 567, § 6.)

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Reason for ten-day limitation on executing warrants.

- Ga. L. 1966, p. 567, § 6 (see O.C.G.A. § 17-5-25), in limiting the time to ten days from date of issuance in which search warrants may be executed, recognizes the importance of current information. Davis v. State, 127 Ga. App. 76, 192 S.E.2d 538 (1972).

Photocopy equivalent to warrant.

- Photocopy is an actual photograph of the document signed by the magistrate and the photocopy is entitled to an equal status of validity, constituting the "duplicate copy" required by the statute. DeFreeze v. State, 136 Ga. App. 10, 220 S.E.2d 17 (1975).

Requirement that a copy of the warrant be presented to a resident.

- Denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence had to be reversed; a new precedent held that if a search warrant failed to meet the particularity requirement of U.S. Const., amend. 14 on the warrant's face but instead incorporates a supporting document by reference, failure to leave a copy of that supporting document at the searched premises invalidated the warrant, and in the instant case the warrant did not describe the place or the person to be searched and the agent who executed the warrant did not leave a copy of the supporting affidavit at the searched premises as required by O.C.G.A. §§ 17-5-24 and17-5-25, and thus the warrant had to be suppressed pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 17-5-30(a)(2). Battle v. State, 275 Ga. App. 301, 620 S.E.2d 506 (2005).

Delay before leaving copy of warrant on premises.

- Suppression of the fruits of a search warrant was not required when a copy of the warrant was not contemporaneously left on the premises where the warrant was executed because: (1) there was only a one- or two-day delay before a copy was left at the residence; (2) no personal property was seized; and (3) no resulting harm was specified. Brundige v. State, 310 Ga. App. 900, 714 S.E.2d 681 (2011), aff'd, 291 Ga. 677, 735 S.E.2d 583 (2012).

Technical violations of duplicate warrant requirement.

- Fact that the copy of the search warrant received by the defendant after the defendant provided a DNA sample was lacking the issuing judge's signature as well as the date and time of the original warrant's execution did not warrant suppression of the DNA evidence pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 17-5-31, as any violations of the failure to comply with the duplicate warrant requirement of O.C.G.A. § 17-5-25 were technical at best; further, the defendant made no showing of prejudice or that any substantial rights were affected by such omissions. State v. Stafford, 277 Ga. App. 852, 627 S.E.2d 802 (2006).

Execution of warrant timely.

- With regard to a defendant's convictions for trafficking in methamphetamine and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute following a bench trial, the appellate court determined that no staleness issue existed with regard to the warrant issued to search the defendant's apartment since the warrant was executed within ten days of the warrant's issuance. Rocha v. State, 284 Ga. App. 852, 644 S.E.2d 921 (2007).

When an arrestee sued police officers for executing an allegedly expired search warrant at the arrestee's home, the officers were entitled to qualified immunity and, thus, summary judgment dismissing the claim because while O.C.G.A. § 17-5-25 required a search warrant's execution within ten days after the warrant's issuance, it was unclear, as of the warrant's execution, that O.C.G.A. § 1-3-1(d)(3), regarding time computation, did not extend that time period to make that execution timely since the tenth day after the warrant was issued fell on a Sunday, followed by a legal holiday, immediately after which the warrant was executed. Hurley v. City of St. Marys, F. Supp. 2d (S.D. Ga. Jan. 26, 2011).

Subsequent test or analysis of seized item.

- In a sexual exploitation of children case, a defendant's computer was seized within 10 days of the issuance of a warrant as required by O.C.G.A. § 17-5-25; there was no requirement that the analysis and examination of the computer take place within the ten-day period. Mastrogiovanni v. State, 324 Ga. App. 739, 751 S.E.2d 536 (2013).

Cited in Fowler v. State, 121 Ga. App. 22, 172 S.E.2d 447 (1970); Clyatt v. State, 126 Ga. App. 779, 192 S.E.2d 417 (1972); Wilson v. Hopper, 234 Ga. 859, 218 S.E.2d 573 (1975); Barrett v. State, 146 Ga. App. 207, 245 S.E.2d 890 (1978); State v. Hillman, 146 Ga. App. 418, 246 S.E.2d 434 (1978); Rivers v. State, 250 Ga. 288, 298 S.E.2d 10 (1982); Franklin v. State, 179 Ga. App. 220, 345 S.E.2d 912 (1986); State v. Banks, 185 Ga. App. 760, 365 S.E.2d 855 (1988); McLarty v. State, 238 Ga. App. 27, 516 S.E.2d 818 (1999); Brundige v. State, 291 Ga. 677, 735 S.E.2d 583 (2012); Brown v. State, 330 Ga. App. 488, 767 S.E.2d 299 (2014).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Information must be under 11 days old.

- Information submitted to the judicial officer as probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant should not be more than ten days old. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-172.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 68 Am. Jur. 2d, Searches and Seizures, §§ 236, 237, 299 et seq.

C.J.S.

- 22A C.J.S., Criminal Law, § 916.

ALR.

- Preventing, obstructing, or delaying service or execution of search warrant as contempt, 39 A.L.R. 1354.

Propriety of execution of no-knock search warrant, 59 A.L.R. 6th 311.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 17-5-25

Total Results: 8  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

Copy

Carruthers v. State, 528 S.E.2d 217 (Ga. 2000).

Cited 73 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 6, 2000 | 272 Ga. 306, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 954

...213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983); State v. Luck, 252 Ga. 347, 312 S.E.2d 791 (1984). [26] See Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980); Cash v. State, 224 Ga. 798, 799(1), 164 S.E.2d 558 (1968); see also OCGA § 17-5-25 (requiring state to give a copy of the warrant to persons from whom anything is seized or to leave a copy in a conspicuous place)....
Copy

State v. Slaughter, 315 S.E.2d 865 (Ga. 1984).

Cited 61 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 17, 1984 | 252 Ga. 435

...t," or that "the warrant was illegally executed" (hereinafter referred to as the three statutory grounds). The first two clearly are inapplicable here. As for the third, the state urges that the legality of execution of warrants is covered by OCGA §§ 17-5-25 through 17-5-28 (Code Ann....
Copy

Lawler v. State, 576 S.E.2d 841 (Ga. 2003).

Cited 37 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jan 27, 2003 | 276 Ga. 229, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 294

...nt. See McBee v. State, 228 Ga.App. 16(3), 491 S.E.2d 97 (1997); Miller v. State, 219 Ga.App. 213(2), 464 S.E.2d 621 (1995). The evidence seized pursuant to this warrant and presented at trial was admissible. Id. The officers also complied with OCGA § 17-5-25 by leaving a copy of the warrant on the premises....
Copy

King v. State, 577 S.E.2d 764 (Ga. 2003).

Cited 18 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jan 27, 2003 | 276 Ga. 126

...101, 104, 335 S.E.2d 560 (1985) (evidence may be presented by written affidavit or sworn testimony). [13] See OCGA § 17-5-21(a); see also Campbell v. State, 226 Ga. 883, 885-886, 178 S.E.2d 257 (1970) (magistrate must exercise "own independent discretion, and not just echo that of the deposing officer"). [14] See OCGA § 17-5-25....
Copy

Nelson v. State, 863 S.E.2d 61 (Ga. 2021).

Cited 6 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 8, 2021 | 312 Ga. 375

...laptop on January 9, 2020.1 Nelson filed a motion to suppress the evidence taken from these devices, arguing that the January 2018 warrants were void because they had not been executed within ten days as required by the warrants themselves and by OCGA § 17-5-25.2 At a hearing, the 1 The record indicates that the Samsung cell phone did not belong to Nelson and had not been used since 2014. Nelson focuses on the iPhone in his appellate briefing. 2 OCGA § 17-5-25 provides: “Any search warrant not executed within ten 3 State offered various excuses for the delay, including that the TBCU was understaffed and shifting to a new system for tracking requests for forensic tasks, that different matters such as missing persons cases may have taken higher priority, and that data extraction is time consuming. On February 4, 2020, the trial court granted Nelson’s motion to suppress on the ground that the State had failed to comply with OCGA § 17-5-25 by not extracting the data within ten days of the issuance of the warrants....
...constitutional law (or, indeed, whether there even is a state constitutional exclusionary rule that could apply in these circumstances). We also need not decide the other issues that have been briefed by the parties, such as whether the State complied with OCGA § 17-5-25 in its initial examinations of the devices pursuant to the 2018 warrants. The challenged records are not the result of those initial examinations. And Nelson has made no argument to this Court that the execution of the 2020 warrants failed to comply with OCGA § 17-5-25. 11 Decided September 8, 2021. Murder....
Copy

Winslow v. State, 315 Ga. 133 (Ga. 2022).

Cited 5 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 2, 2022

Copy

Brundige v. State, 291 Ga. 677 (Ga. 2012).

Cited 2 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 15, 2012 | 735 S.E.2d 583, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3191

...This resolution makes it unnecessary to address the second question this Court posed on certiorari, namely whether evidence obtained by a search warrant must be suppressed when there is an intentional delay in executing the mandate set forth in OCGA § 17-5-25 that a duplicate copy of the warrant be left at the searched premises. There is no dispute that OCGA § 17-5-25 was complied with in the execution of the second warrant.

Winslow v. State (Ga. 2022).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 2, 2022 | 735 S.E.2d 583, 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3191

...not extend to a full forensic search of the laptop and had long expired. Additionally, Winslow argued that the warrant 2 had expired before the GBI search of the laptop commenced because of a ten-day execution requirement both within the warrant itself and pursuant to OCGA § 17-5-25; that the warrant was void because it was obtained in a different judicial district than where the evidence was housed; and the affidavit supporting the search warrant lacked probable cause. Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress....