Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Pearl TOLMIE, Melodie Tolmie and Edwin Tolmie, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1982-09-22
Citations: 421 So. 2d 1087
Docket Number: No. 81-1964
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Pearl TOLMIE, Melodie Tolmie and Edwin Tolmie, Appellees.
Judges: HURLEY, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 421
Pages: 1087–1089

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Pearl TOLMIE, Melodie Tolmie and Edwin Tolmie, Appellees.
No. 81-1964.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Sept. 22, 1982.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 8, 1982.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Andrea T. Mohel, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Bennett S. Cohn of Law Offices of Bennett S. Cohn, Lake Worth, and Steve Gom-berg of Lubin & Hamill, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellees.

Opinion:
DOWNEY, Judge.
Appellees were indicted for second degree murder. A motion to suppress was filed by appellees upon the ground that the affidavit for search warrant was not subscribed by the alleged affiant. The affidavit contained a jurat signed by the magistrate but was not signed by the alleged affiant nor does it contain any seal of the court. The State filed an affidavit of the magistrate who issued the warrant, which stated that he had placed the affiant under oath and that affiant swore to the truth of his statements made in the affidavit. However, the trial court felt the statement of the magistrate was insufficient to meet the requirements of the statute and granted appellees' motion to suppress.
We hold that the failure of an affi-ant to subscribe to an affidavit for search warrant as required by statute invalidates a warrant based thereon.
The statute in question, Section 933.06, Florida Statutes (1981), provides:
The judge or magistrate must, before issuing the warrant, have the application of some person for said warrant duly sworn to and subscribed, and may receive further testimony from witnesses or supporting affidavits, or depositions in writing, to support the application.
The application for, issuance of, and service of search warrants is serious business, which has been jealously controlled by statutes and Constitution. It is almost axiomatic that statutes and rules authorizing searches and seizures are strictly construed and affidavits and warrants issued pursuant to such authority must meticulously conform to statutory and constitutional provisions. State ex rel. Wilson v. Quigg, 154 Fla. 348, 17 So.2d 697 (1944); Hesselrode v. State, 369 So.2d 348 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). Section 933.06, Florida Statutes (1981), mandates that, before the warrant issues, some person must subscribe and swear to the application therefor.
In the present case, the person seeking the warrant did not subscribe to the application — he was sworn but did not subscribe. Thus, the affiant omitted one of the two most important aspects of the procedure, the signing. In State v. McManus, 404 So.2d 757 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981), this court excused the magistrate's failure to complete and seal the jurat on a wiretap application as "mere administrative oversight." The magistrate later testified that the application had been signed and sworn to before him and that he simply failed to complete the jurat and place the seal of the court thereon. Here, the judge testified by affidavit that he recalled the application for search warrant, that the detective applying therefor did, in fact, swear to the application, and that he filled in the jurat. However, the judge could not rectify the oversight of no subscription because, in fact, it was never signed.
We are of the view that the law is better served by requiring strict compliance with the statute requiring issuance of a search warrant. Compliance should be required or the provision mandating subscription should be done away with in favor of simply swearing to the truth of the contents before the magistrate.
Accordingly, we affirm the order of suppression.
HURLEY, J., concurs.
LETTS, C.J., dissents, with opinion.