Court Opinion

ID: 9661626
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:45:16.562972+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:31.565538
License: Public Domain

Conley Byrd, Justice, dissenting. I disagree with the majority view that the oath or affirmation required by the constitution as a prerequisite to issuance of a search warrant does not have to be in writing. It is pointed out in 79 C. J. S. Searches and Seizures § 73, that a valid search warrant may issue only on the application therefor under oath or affirmation in the form of a complaint or affidavit sufficient in form and substance to support the warrant. The reason for requiring a writing was set forth in Sullivan v. Commonwealth, 304 Ky. 780, 202 S. W. 2d 619 (1947), as follows: “. . . The reasons for requiring the filing of an affidavit as a prerequisite to the issuance of a search warrant are: (1) To enable the officer whose jurisdiction is invoked to determine judicially whether probable cause exists for issuing the warrant; and (2) to fix responsibility for civil redress or criminal prosecution in the event of a false accusation. Goode v. Commonwealth, 199 Ky. 755, 252 S. W. 105. Since the. issuing officer is the sole authority in whom the judicial discretion rests, he may not delegate this function of his office to the accuser. When an officer issues a warrant on the strength of a statement that the affiant has ‘good and sufficient information’ upon which to form a belief that contraband property is being concealed, and the affidavit fails to disclose the substance of the information, such officer permits the accuser to usurp the judicial function of his office; and since no fact has been recited to substantiate the charge, the accused would be without civil redress and there would be no basis for prosecution if the accused has been falsely charged...." Our laws require that all applications made to the circuit court upon which a process or order is issued must be in writing. See Ark. Stat. Ann. § 27-1101 (Repl. 1962), and Rosewater v. Schwab Clothing Co., 58 Ark. 446, 25 S. W. 73 (1894). No judge would consider issuing an order citing a man into court to show cause why he should not be held in contempt unless he had a written application therefor. Should we require anything less when the writ being issued is a search warrant, a matter that the framers of the Constitutions of the United States and this State thought to be of such importance as to attempt to regulate the issuance thereof? The injustice of issuing search warrants without written application is further compounded by our holding in Moore v. State, 244 Ark. 1197, 429 S. W. 2d 122 (1968), wherein we held that the burden was on the person attacking the warrant to show its invalidity. Under this procedure a person whose home has been ransacked has absolutely no remedy for the wrong done him. He cannot sue the sheriff because he acted under color of law, Appling v. State, 95 Ark. 185, 128 S. W. 866 (1910), and he cannot sue the judge or magistrate because of the doctrine of judicial immunity. Therefore, since the burden of proof is on the person complaining to show that the warrant was issued without probable cause, he is completely remediless unless the magistrate or judge has a good and convincing memory. I do not believe that in our quest to enforce the law we should render our citizens so helpless about a right which the framers of our constitutions thought important enough to call a “Bill of Right.” For these reasons I respectfully dissent.