What constitutes an illegal search and seizure?
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What constitutes an illegal search and seizure?
The FBI raided my old house (House A) in search of my computers. I hadn’t lived there for a month or so. My brother was at the house. They confiscated his computers and interrogated him, asking where I lived. He told them that I had moved to my mom’s house (House B). I did not officially live at House B, and my name is, in no way, linked to the address. They proceeded to raid House B about 2 hours later, finding computers that are alleged to be mine. Is this a violation of the 4th Amendment, considering they had no evidence?
Asked on December 10, 2011 under Criminal Law, Kentucky
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
An illegal search and seizure results when a stop of a person and a search of the person or a residence is done without any probable cause. The absence of probable cause results from when there are no facts that a reasonable person would believe that a crime has occurred.
In your situation most likely the raid by the FBI resulted from an affidavit resulting in the issuance of a search warrant. In order to determine whether the search of the two homes had no factual or legal basis, one would have to carefully read the search warrant and the affidavits supporting its issuance.
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