Opinion ID: 2972071
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Particularity of the Place to Be Searched

Text: The warrant described the street address and color of the building and referred to a sign on the building that stated “Customs Bonded Warehouse.” Plaintiffs contend that the warrant was defective because its description of the building implied that the entire building was the object of the search. Plaintiffs point out that the warehouse does not occupy the entire building, only the basement. “The test for determining whether the description in the warrant is sufficient to satisfy the particularity requirement … [has] two components: (1) whether the place to be searched is described with sufficient particularity as to enable the executing officers to locate and identify the premises with reasonable effort; and (2) whether there is reasonable probability that some other premises may be mistakenly searched.” Gahagan, 865 F.2d at 1497 (citation omitted). Here, the description of the building assured that the executing officers could locate where the Customs Bonded Warehouse was with reasonable effort and to avoid mistakenly searching for the warehouse on some other premises. There is no evidence in this case that the agents searched anywhere other than the Customs Bonded Warehouse portion of the building that is identified in the warrant and to which 1 See id. at 1499 (“[W]e find that when one of the executing officers is the affiant who describes the property to the judge, and the judge finds probable cause to search the property as described by the affiant, and the search is confined to the areas which the affiant described, then the search, in this case, is in compliance with the fourth amendment.”). In an unpublished decision, this Court, following Gahagan, held that the Fourth Amendment was not violated when the warrant for firearms referred only to “attachment B” under the description of the items to be seized and attachment B was not served with the warrant because it was under seal. See United States v. Pritchett, 40 Fed. Appx. 901, 907 (6th Cir. July 9, 2002) (unpublished) (noting that the defendant was not prejudiced by the failure to receive attachment B with the warrant because (a) before the search began, the ATF agent told the defendant what they would be searching for; (b) the search was conducted in accordance with the warrant; (c) the officers provided the defendant with a receipt for the seized items; and (d) the affiant was in charge of executing the search, thereby minimizing the possibility of the search going beyond the scope of the warrant). Nos. 03-5582/5614 Baranski, et al. v. Unknown ATF Agents, et al. Page 10 the manager of the Pars warehouse directed the agents. Accordingly, although the warrant was defective on its face as to the items to be seized, it sufficiently described the place to be searched.