Section 9.18 Particularly Describing the Place to Be Searched

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

E. (§9.18) Particularly Describing the Place to Be Searched

Both the Fourth Amendment and the Missouri Constitution require particularity in the description of the premises to be searched. Section 542.276.6(5), RSMo Supp. 2004, provides that the warrant shall identify the place to be searched “in sufficient detail and particularity that the officer executing the warrant can readily ascertain whom or what he or she is to search.” Moreover, a search warrant is to be deemed invalid if the place to be searched is not stated “with sufficient certainty.” Section 542.276.10(5); see State v. Cummings, 714 S.W.2d 877, 880 (Mo. App. S.D. 1986). These provisions protect against “general, exploratory rummaging in a persons belongings,” State v. Holland, 781 S.W.2d 808, 814 (Mo. App. E.D. 1989) (quoting Coolidge v. N.H., 403 U.S. 443, 467 (1971)), and excess discretion in the hands of law...