Obtaining a Search Warrant after Charges Have Been Brought

Most search warrants are obtained before anyone has been charged with a crime. But sometimes officers will charge a defendant and then decide to obtain a search warrant to seek additional evidence. In such a case, may investigators still obtain a search warrant from a magistrate, or does a magistrate  lose jurisdiction over the case after the defendant’s initial appearance? And, once a defendant has been charged, may officers still seek a search warrant ex parte, or must the defendant be given notice and an opportunity to be heard? The magistrate doesn’t lose jurisdiction. A magistrate may issue a search warrant “valid throughout the county” in which the magistrate serves. G.S. 7A-273(4). See also G.S. 15A-243(b)(3) (noting magistrates’ authority). This authority is the same as the authority of the clerk and his or her deputies and assistants. G.S. 7A-180(5); 7A-181; 15A-243(b)(2). Nothing in the relevant statute limits the authority of these officials to a particular phase of an investigation, and the state supreme court has ruled that a clerk may issue a search warrant even after a defendant has been charged with a crime. State v. Pennington, 327 N.C. 89 (1990) (“Because indictments had been returned against him, defendant argues that jurisdiction over all matters relating to his trial rested with the Superior Court . . . at the time the warrant was issued,” but “[t]he issuance of a search warrant is neither a district court matter nor a superior court matter, but pertains to pretrial investigation which need not – [...]