A follow-up question about subpoenaing a suspect's bank account (timescales), pretty please!

Is the push to get a search warrant a legitimate need or is it a story need?

Basically, the person in charge of the investigation contacts the attorney who is handling the matter. An investigator prepares an affidavit of what the suspected crime is and why the investigator expects the search warrant to disclose evidence that would help the investigator solve the crime. Attorney writes a motion saying why the search warrant is necessary and a proposed court order (the actual search warrant).

Attorney then faxes or emails the affidavit, motion, and proposed order to the court clerk. In a true emergency, the judge can do it a phone hearing. In an emergency, the judge can do this during non-business hours. Judge signs and it's returned to the attorney, who gives it to the investigator to execute.

Investigate can call the bank, and explain to the bank that a search warrant is coming and to stay around after closing. Banks like to keep on good terms with investigators.

In a kidnapping case, you can do this in less than an hour. If there's no rush, like a drug investigation, it will probably take a couple of days. If your emergency is something where everybody is going to be willing to drop everything else, it's quick.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

In the real world, probably not sufficient urgency to cause everybody to move it to the top of their list. You may be able to convince people in a story, however.

Matching the withdrawal and deposit, unless the money is marked or serial numbers are recorded, is going to be difficult. Among other things, is your character dumb enough to transfer the same amount? To get a order to obtain a DNA sample can be difficult. Judges don't like to issue orders to invade our bodies.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Remember, judges are doubters, and defense attorneys that can get the search warrant thrown out will sometimes throw out the entire case.

Personally I'd suggest wire transfers as the easiest to track, although it makes your characters idiots. (Caveat here is that America's Dumbest Criminals has a lot of material to work with.)

A bank has a bunch of transactions. A big bank over a thousand transaction each day. So the investigate comes into court and testifies that A withdrew $5k and B immediately deposited $5k into his bank account. Investigates insists they must be connected. Defense counsel gets up and asks investigator how many deposits of $5k were made in all of the banks in the area. Investigator goes, "Duh." Defense counsel whips out a piece of paper showing $5k deposits for the 24 hour period after the withdrawal. Defense counsel asks investigator how many of these the investigator checked? Investigator goes, "None."

Defense counsel spends the next half hour pounding this point home, and making the investigator look like an idiot. Finally defense counsel, tiring of the game, asks the investigator how he knows the $5k is the same? Investigator hangs head, and says, "I don't."

Defense counsel asks the judge that everything from the search warrant be thrown out and the case dismissed. Judge will give the prosecutor a couple of minutes to try to save his case, and then the judge will dismiss.

Our clients may be idiots, but defense attorneys are usually not. So far you haven't convinced me that you're going to be able to use the evidence.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

First off, it's not hard finding a judge to sign off on a warrant. Prosecutors track judges they like the same as the defense attorneys. I had one case where we waited four months for a specific judge to show up. This judge was the only one in the state where the plea deal would fly. (It was very, very good for my client, and the State had made a massive screw up.) So finding a judge for a search warrant isn't difficult.

But here's where it goes downhill for you. Police use search warrant, get some evidence, and have a chat with witness. The police use the evidence from the search warrant to get the witness to talk. If the search warrant is not a good warrant, then the chat becomes the fruit of that bad warrant and the chat is thrown out. (Understand here I'm talking very broad principles and there's a big variety of results here.)

Cop shows use all sorts of stuff that isn't allowed but is great for drama and improving the pacing of the show. Good cops are almost anal about evidence. They make sure that nothing is going to screw them up.

Yes, there are some bad cops out there, and I've gotten lucky and had some of them in cases. Most cops are good at their jobs, and Feds tend to be a higher caliber than local cops. State police tend to be a very mixed bag.

Remember you want problems for your protagonist. You don't want it to be easy.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe