Miss. R. Crim. P. 4.2 (2026)

Rule 4.2 Warrant on Affidavit. (a) In General. No search warrant shall issue except upon affidavit presented to the issuing judge authorized by law to issue search warrants, establishing grounds for issuing the warrant.

(b) Issuance. If the judge finds probable cause exists, the judge shall issue a warrant naming or describing the person or thing to be seized, and naming or describing the person or place to be searched.

Comment Under section (b), probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant should be assessed under the totality-of-circumstances test. See Jordan v. State, 995 So. 2d 94 (Miss. 2008); Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 76 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1983).

Rule 4.3 Contents of Search Warrants. Every search warrant issued by the court shall:

(1) command the law enforcement officer to search, within a specified time not to exceed ten (10) days, the person(s) or place(s) named in the search warrant and to return the warrant and an inventory of the thing(s) seized to the court as designated in the warrant;

(2) designate the court to which the warrant and an inventory of the thing(s) seized shall be returned; and

(3) be signed and dated by the judge, showing the exact time and date and the name of the law enforcement officer to whom the warrant was delivered for execution.

Comment The ten (10) day requirement in section (a) is consistent with the long- standing holding that “some date, within a reasonable time after the issuance of the warrant, be fixed for its return, and that it should be executed within the time within which it is, by its terms, a live process.” Taylor v. State, 137 Miss. 217, 102 So. 267, 268 (1924). The Court has also recognized that search warrants shall be returnable instanter or on a day stated. See Meyer v. State, 309 So. 2d 161, 165-66 (Miss. 1975) (return two (2) days after the search warrant was served was not a breach of the statutory requirement that warrant be executed

and returned within ten (10) days and was not an unreasonable delay); Jordan v. State, 147 Miss. 24, 112 So. 590 (1927) (the requirement that the warrant should be returned instanter only required that it should be executed and returned within a reasonable time under the circumstances of the case, and that the execution of a search warrant on the day following the date of its issuance sufficiently complies with the mandate that it be executed and returned instanter). The requirement that a search warrant be executed within a reasonable time prevents the search warrant from being “held by an officer as a weapon, to be used at his discretion.” Taylor, 102 So. at 268. Pursuant to