Court Opinion

ID: 9753651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:21:50.491032+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:39.846997
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Pomeroy:
I agree with the majority that absent a controlling statute or rule of procedure which sets a fixed time limit for the execution of search warrants, it is necessary to approach today’s question under a standard of “reasonableness”. As the majority decides, “[a]ny unreasonable time lapse between the issuance of a search warrant by an independent and neutral magistrate, and the use of the warrant as authority for a search by a police officer jeopardizes the validity of the warrant.” The opinion of the Court, however, does not indicate why this execution occurred after a reasonable amount of time had passed, save the conclusory statement that, at the time of execution, the warrant was “lifeless” because the determination of the magistrate was “too remote in time”.
In my view resolution of the “reasonableness” of the delay in executing a warrant necessarily depends on analysis of the facts of each case: the reason for the delay, the nature of the property sought in the search *251(its size, its mobility, whether it is consumable or ordinarily expended, whether it is often carried on the person and thus moved from location to location), etc.
Moreover, since it is the Commonwealth, if anyone, who would have knowledge of circumstances giving rise to the delay in execution of a search or arrest warrant, I believe that the Commonwealth should bear the burden of establishing its reasonableness. At the suppression hearing in this case, the police officer was asked by the district attorney to account for the 15-day delay. He replied that “it was difficult to get in there”. There was no evidence of the nature of the residence to be searched which would have made it “difficult to get in there,” nor was there evidence of the nature of the property to be seized, other than that it was a quantity of narcotics.1 I have no difficulty in concluding that this record fails to present a constitutionally sufficient justification for the delay, and I therefore concur in the view that the product of the search should have been suppressed.
It must be conceded, however, that resolution of the question of reasonableness of delay in executing a warrant presents obvious difficulties for the lower courts. Since this Court does not indicate the criteria to be used in making the determination, I personally would endorse the adoption of a rule of criminal procedure setting a fixed period of time within which a warrant must be utilized by the police. See, e.g., Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(c) (10-day limit).
Mr. Chief Justice Jones joins in this concurring opinion.

 The record shows that the search conducted by police here netted 0.8 grams of compressed marijuana and 2.4 grams of heroin.