Opinion ID: 380089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficiency of Description of Property to be Seized.

Text: 25 Defendants argue that the warrants' descriptions of things to be seized were unduly vague and thus improperly left the determination of what should be seized to the discretion of the executing officers. In addition, they claim that the warrants did not allow seizure of some items seized under their authority. 26 The property to be seized was described in the warrants as: 27 documents, securities, papers, and all mechanical instruments such as check protectors and specialized writing devices associated with issuing such documents, pertaining to the Windward International Bank, Ltd., of Kingston, (sic) St. Vincent, and are being held in violation of United States Code, Title 18, Section 2314. 28 In Andresen v. Maryland, 1976, 427 U.S. 463, 479-482, 96 S.Ct. 2737, 2748, 49 L.Ed.2d 627 the Court upheld a warrant similar in language to that used here, which, in addition to authorizing the seizure of specific papers in a real estate fraud case, also authorized the seizure of other fruits, instrumentalities and evidence of crime at this (time) unknown. Id. at 479, 96 S.Ct. at 2748. The search warrants involved here specified the crime and the enterprise to which the items listed were to pertain, but did not include such potentially general language. The trial court correctly rejected the attack on the warrants' description of property to be seized. 29 Defendants also argue that the warrants limit the items to be seized to those held in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314, which precluded the seizure of mere evidence of the commission of the crime. We reject this hypertechnical reading of the warrant. Its language is to be interpreted in a common sense and realistic fashion, United States v. Ventresca, 1965, 380 U.S. 102, 108, 85 S.Ct. 741, 745, 13 L.Ed.2d 684. Therefore, we read the language to include items held in connection with violation of § 2314. See F.R.Crim.P. 41(b). 30