Illegal Search?

[Half Cocked]

Half-Cocked, is it normal or occasional practice that a warrant not be presented to the occupant / homeowner when either a search or seizure are conducted?

Not uncommon at all....... remember we have been talking about an "arrest warrant" in this thread. There are many times it is not practical. For example..... a LEO pulls someone over for a traffic violation and learns through a computer check that there is an outstanding warrant for the operator of the vehicle. The LEO is not going to have a copy of the warrant. A LEO sees someone that they are familiar with walking down the road and enter his/her residence, a warrant check reveals an outstanding warrant and the LEO goes to the house and enters, searches and locates the suspect. The LEO is not going to have the ability to produce a "copy" of the warrant.

Now when it comes to a "Search Warrant" the courts are much more critical of the LEO's having one present at the scene and leaving a copy for the resident.

 

[swampy]

Interesting. A Sheriff's deputy states, at 1:44 and again around 3:30 "You opened the door, ma'am", as if this obviates the need for a warrant to enter and search. Looks like some state-sponsored thuggery here. But I ... wouldn't want to seem ... negative toward law enforcement.

She opened the door but I didn't hear her invite them in. Does that mean they can enter anywhere they suspect a bail jumper could be?

I used to have a town cop, a sargeant with a bad attitude and worse reputation, come to my house regularly looking for my brother in law. Every time he'd come I'd tell him my brother in law wasn't there (he used to live at my house) and he'd give me the crap about aiding a fugitive blah blah blah (a warrant for traffic infractions) and I'd thank him for that information then he'd leave. He never asked if I knew where he was...in fact he only got out of his car once in maybe half a dozen visits. The last time he came he brought a baby faced rookie that I happened to go to high school with along with him. After we went through the usual spiel the rookie chimed iin and asked me if I knew where he was. I answered yup I do and waited for him to follow up. He got wide eyed, rolled his hands and asked. I told him my brother in law died 3 years earlier and I told him which cemetary he was buried in. Long pause by all...then I offered to draw him a map to this grave. I avoided driving through town when I could til the sarge abruptly retired.

 

[bobsher]

According to this article when a person signs a bail bond agreement he/she waives their constitutional rights.

Is Bounty Hunting Legal?

Courtesy Washington State Dept. of Licensing
Bail bond recovery
agent badge

Yes, bounty hunting is legal, although state laws vary with regard to the rights of bounty hunters. In general, they have greater authority to arrest than even the local police. "When the defendant signs the bail bond contract, they do something very important. They waive their constitutional rights," says Burton. "They agree that they can be arrested by the bail bond agent. And they waive extradition, allowing bondsmen to take them to any state."
All the bounty hunter needs to make an arrest is a copy of the "bail piece" (the paperwork indicating that the person is a fugitive) and, in some states, a certified copy of the bond. He or she doesn't need a warrant, can enter private property unannounced and doesn't have to read a fugitive his or her Miranda rights before making the arrest. But there are rules and regulations to the job. The bail bond contract gives bounty hunters the right to enter the home of a fugitive, but only after establishing without a doubt that the person lives there. They cannot enter the homes of friends or family members to look for the fugitive.

Some states require that bounty hunters be licensed; other states require that bounty hunters register with them. Only a handful of states -- Kentucky, Illinois and Oregon -- prohibit bounty hunters entirely from making bail arrests. In these states, bounty hunters need to have a court order. Then, the judge will usually order the local police to arrest the fugitive, and the bounty hunter can request that the prisoner be remanded into his or her custody.

The one thing a bounty hunter can never do is take the hunt outside of the United States. Bounty hunters can be arrested -- even shot -- if they stray across international borders. (See the sidebar in the next section for more on this).

 

[Kenny474]

If someone came half through my window like the guy in the beginning of the video did, things would get ugly in a hurry. And even more so if they pulled half the crap they did in the video. Unless you have a warrant or permission from me, you better have proof that you're god if you plan on coming in my house, or my bed-side bump-in-the-night-boom-stick is going to be making an appearance.

I think the woman did the right thing taping the incident. And if that BS stunt they pulled is legal anywhere, this country has some serious legal issues.

 

[GSG]

If the cops or the bailbonds folks did this illegally, they should be charged, prosecuted and whatever else.

Is there some document you sign away rights when you post bond? Similiar to felons on probation kinda thing?

It looks like there is, sort of anyway. I'm posting it later in the thread.

I used to have a town cop, a sargeant with a bad attitude and worse reputation, come to my house regularly looking for my brother in law. Every time he'd come I'd tell him my brother in law wasn't there (he used to live at my house) and he'd give me the crap about aiding a fugitive blah blah blah (a warrant for traffic infractions) and I'd thank him for that information then he'd leave. He never asked if I knew where he was...in fact he only got out of his car once in maybe half a dozen visits. The last time he came he brought a baby faced rookie that I happened to go to high school with along with him. After we went through the usual spiel the rookie chimed iin and asked me if I knew where he was. I answered yup I do and waited for him to follow up. He got wide eyed, rolled his hands and asked. I told him my brother in law died 3 years earlier and I told him which cemetary he was buried in. Long pause by all...then I offered to draw him a map to this grave. I avoided driving through town when I could til the sarge abruptly retired.

Courtesy Washington State Dept. of Licensing
Bail bond recovery
agent badge

That's for the Washington State, not CA, but I did some digging and found a bail bonds agreement from the state of California.

http://www.bailall.com/images/AC_Surety-Bail-Bond-Agreement.pdf

It says in part:

THIRTEENTH: The surety or its representatives shall have the right to examine the credit history, department of motor vehicle records, employment history, books and records of the undersigned or the assets covered by the bond, or the assets pledged as collateral for the bond.

So if she signed an agreement like this and put up her house as collateral, they may be allowed to "examine" it. I could be wrong, CA law isn't my cup of tea.

 

[Talon3]

In mass the out of state bail agent would need to appear at a district court present the out of state charges testify to the fact the wanted person resides at or is in mass and a fugitive from justice warrant will be issued. Next if the bail agent locates the fugitive he will need a mass sworn leo to effect the arrest transport to any district court or be held until court. At the court appearance the judge will allow the bail agent to take custody and remove from the Commonwealth.

 

[Len-2A Training]

I don't know anything about bail bondsmen in MA or elsewhere, but can speak for a few related MA issues from the perspective of a Constable:

- Probate courts issue tons of arrest warrants (capias) for deadbeat dads in MA. The judge chooses to issue them as a criminal or civil capias (most are issued as a civil capias even when the person owes >$70K in child support and refused to show up in court to answer why he couldn't pay). A Constable can make the capias arrest in either case, but the PD can ONLY make an arrest for a criminal capias under MGL, NOT if it's issued as a civil capias.

- In such cases, we do NOT give a copy of the capias to the arrestee nor do we Mirandarize the person . . . we're not interrogating them, all we need to do is determine that he is the named party and then bring the body to the court for the judge to determine what to do with him.

- We do NOT have legal authority to enter into a residence unless the party in charge of said residence agrees to let us in, we do NOT have the authority to create a disturbance.

- We may request a PO to assist us in "keeping the peace" while effecting the arrest, or the PD may request permission to have an officer join us (this happened to us a few times that I can recall). However, for said civil capias, the Constable is still in charge and responsible for the prisoner.

Each state will have different laws effecting how a bail jumper is arrested and the boundaries of authority in effecting such an arrest.