People v. Sobczak-Obetts, 463 Mich. 687

Summary

The Michigan Supreme Court held that the failure to provide a defendant with a copy of the affidavit supporting a federal search warrant, as required by Michigan statute, did not require suppression of firearms seized during the search. The court distinguished earlier cases involving defects in the warrant itself and concluded that the statutory violation concerned procedural execution requirements rather than constitutional validity.

Holdings

1. When an affidavit is attached to a search warrant in lieu of stating the probable-cause grounds in the warrant itself, the affidavit is part of the warrant referred to in MCL 780.655 and ordinarily must be provided or left with the person whose premises were searched.
2. Suppression is not an appropriate remedy for the failure to provide a copy of the supporting affidavit after execution of an otherwise valid search warrant when the violation is ministerial, did not cause the seizure, and did not infringe the defendant's constitutional rights.
3. People v. Moten and its related cases do not control a violation of MCL 780.655 because they addressed defects in the form or validity of the warrant itself, not a postseizure procedural failure in executing an otherwise valid warrant.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the failure to provide the defendant with a copy of the affidavit supporting an otherwise valid federal search warrant violated MCL 780.655.
2. Whether suppression of evidence is an appropriate remedy for a technical, postseizure violation of Michigan's statutory search-warrant execution requirements when the search was authorized by a valid warrant and did not violate the Fourth Amendment.
3. Whether People v. Moten and related cases required suppression for the alleged violation of MCL 780.655.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded