Also known as: arrest warrant · arrest-warrant · warrant of arrest · bench warrant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial order authorizing law enforcement officers to take a named person into custody. The order issues only after a neutral magistrate finds probable cause to believe the person committed an offense charged in a complaint or indictment.
Officers received a tip that Arthur Abrams was inside his apartment after committing a nonviolent theft. They entered without a warrant and arrested him in the living room. The arrest is invalid because no exigent circumstances justified the nonemergency entry into Abrams's own home.
A prosecutor filed a complaint against Alfred Ashford supported by an affidavit detailing his role in falsifying corporate records. The magistrate reviewed the documents and found probable cause. The judge issued the arrest warrant directing officers to take Ashford into custody.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
An officer unlawfully stopped Anika Anand on the street. Dispatch then reported an outstanding arrest warrant for an unrelated probation violation. The officer arrested Anand on the warrant and found drugs during the search incident to arrest. The preexisting warrant attenuated the taint of the illegal stop.
Police arrested Alan Ackerman on a warrant for embezzlement and held him in jail. No judicial officer reviewed the basis for the arrest for several days. Ackerman challenged the prolonged detention without a prompt probable cause determination by a neutral magistrate.
Andrew Avery faced state charges under a statute he claimed was unconstitutional. He sought a federal injunction to block enforcement of the arrest warrant issued by state authorities. The federal court declined to interfere with the ongoing state prosecution.
Federal agents obtained an arrest warrant for Albert Allen after an indictment charged him with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Officers executed the warrant at Allen's residence and seized evidence listed in the supporting affidavits. The arrest proceeded under the authority of the judicial order.
A complaint or affidavit must establish probable cause to believe an offense occurred and that the defendant committed it. Once that threshold is met and the government requests a warrant, the judge must issue it to an authorized officer.
Absent exigent circumstances, officers need an arrest warrant and reason to believe the suspect is inside before making a nonemergency entry into the suspect's own home. A separate search warrant is required to enter a third party's home.
Yes, when the warrant is preexisting and unconnected to the stop. The warrant serves as an intervening circumstance that, together with minimal officer misconduct, attenuates the taint and permits admission of evidence found during the subsequent lawful arrest.
…had offered to prove that their offices had been raided and all their files and records seized pursuant to search and arrest warrants that were later summarily vacated by a state judge for lack of probable cause. They also offered to prove that despite the state court order quashing the warrants and suppressing the…