Miss. R. Crim. P. 4.3

As amended through March 21, 2024

Rule 4.3 - Contents of Search Warrants

Every search warrant issued by the court shall:

(1) command the law enforcement officer to search, within a specified time not to exceed ten (10) days, the person(s) or place(s) named in the search warrant and to return the warrant and an inventory of the thing(s) seized to the court as designated in the warrant;

(2) designate the court to which the warrant and an inventory of the thing(s) seized shall be returned; and

(3) be signed and dated by the judge, showing the exact time and date and the name of the law enforcement officer to whom the warrant was delivered for execution.

Miss. R. Crim. P. 4.3

Adopted eff. 7/1/2017.

Comment

The ten (10) day requirement in section (a) is consistent with the longstanding holding that "some date, within a reasonable time after the issuance of the warrant, be fixed for its return, and that it should be executed within the time within which it is, by its terms, a live process." Taylor v. State, 137 Miss. 217, 102 So. 267, 268 (1924). The Court has also recognized that search warrants shall be returnable instanter or on a day stated. See Meyer v. State, 309 So. 2d 161, 165-66 (Miss. 1975) (return two (2) days after the search warrant was served was not a breach of the statutory requirement that warrant be executed and returned within ten (10) days and was not an unreasonable delay); Jordan v. State, 147 Miss. 24, 112 So. 590 (1927) (the requirement that the warrant should be returned instanter only required that it should be executed and returned within a reasonable time under the circumstances of the case, and that the execution of a search warrant on the day following the date of its issuance sufficiently complies with the mandate that it be executed and returned instanter). The requirement that a search warrant be executed within a reasonable time prevents the search warrant from being "held by an officer as a weapon, to be used at his discretion." Taylor, 102 So. at 268. Pursuant to Rule 4.3, even an anticipatory search warrant must be executed within ten (10) days of the date the search warrant was issued.