Unsigned warrant

Where you don’t have a warrant

Get it in under an exception if you can, because you can’t prove that a valid warrant was issued and signed without at least an unsigned copy of the warrant (with almost no exceptions, and the clerk’s office hasn’t caught fire in a while). See Duggins v. State, 7 Md. App. 486 (1969). (can’t just have officers say “yes, it was good, and yes, it was signed”)

Copies of signed warrants

No real problems here. A copy is fine as long as there’s no legitimate question about whether it’s accurate.

          See CJP § 10-103(b) (“A duplicate is admissible in evidence to the same extent as an original unless: (1) A genuine question is raised as to the authenticity of the original; or (2) Under the circumstances, it would be unfair to admit the duplicate in lieu of the original.”)

Copies of Unsigned warrants:

This is NOT the preferred way of doing things, but you can if you have to.

- Try to get more than just the officer who was there when the warrant signed. Where possible, get as many of the following as you can:

- copy of the Judge’s duty schedule to show that the judge the officer says signed the warrant was the one who would have signed it on that date (or have an explanation as to why it wasn’t)

- as many officers as were there when the warrant was signed

- an explanation as to why you don’t have a copy of the signed warrant

- if the judge remembers, you can (and I’d recommend checking with your building chief first on this one) have them testify… though I don’t know that many defense attorneys dumb enough to actually make the judge take the stand

- any other bright ideas you have to show that the warrant was actually signed

Get in the following:

- That the unsigned copy presented is EXACTLY the same as the copy the judge signed (judge didn’t add/delete/change anything)

“The authentication of a search warrant, that is, the proof of its valid issuance, may be proved by evidence other than the production of the document itself, such as the proffered testimony of the police officer who served the warrant. This type of problem has nothing to do with the "Best Evidence Rule," which is concerned only with the content or terms of the writing, not with the validity of its issuance.”
State v. Brown, 129 Md. App. 517, 528 (1999)

“The authentication of a search warrant, that is, the proof of its valid issuance, may be proved by evidence other than the production of the document itself, such as the proffered testimony of the police officer in this case that he saw Judge Murphy sign the warrant.”
Thompson v. State, 62 Md. App. 190, 210 (1985)(footnote)(and not Hargrove’s Murphy)

“the trial judge found, and we agree, that the signature [on an unsigned warrant] could be proved by extrinsic evidence.” Thompson v. State, 139 Md. App. 501, 524 (2001)

BUT

You have to actually be able to prove it.

Where “it does not seem that the officer commanded a formidable recollection of many critical specific facts pertaining to the circumstances in question,” insufficient to establish that the warrant was signed. Thompson v. State, 139 Md. App. 501, 524 (2001). (NOTE- “We do not go so far as to say that testimony by the officer that procures a warrant could never suffice to prove its valid issuance. Rather, we find that, even if such testimony could ever suffice under specific circumstances, it certainly seems very tenuous that Wilson's testimony in this case, given its lack of solid recollection and definitiveness, would be an example of such.” Id at 526.)