Citation Numbers: 87 Op. Att'y Gen. 76
Judges: J. JOSEPH CURRAN, JR.
Filed Date: 5/20/2002
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Jennifer K. Etheridge
You have asked for our opinion whether the State's Attorney's Office may disclose to community associations the location and date of the execution of search warrants related to controlled dangerous substances in their communities. You indicate that community organizations have expressed an interest in such information for purposes of nuisance abatement actions with respect to properties used by drug offenders.
Except for certain specifically authorized purposes, the Maryland Rules require that search warrant materials be filed with the court and sealed, and that public officials refrain from disclosing their contents in the absence of a court order. Thus, unless the address and date of execution of a search warrant have already been publicly disclosed — for example, as a result of a criminal prosecution) the State's Attorney may not provide that information to a community organization without a court order. In our opinion, disclosure to a community organization of the date on and location from which illegal drugs or paraphernalia have been seized would further the public policy goals of the nuisance abatement law and, hence, would be an appropriate basis for a court order.
The drug nuisance abatement statute specifically allows the introduction of reputation evidence concerning the property at a hearing or trial of the action. RP §
Evidence of the general reputation of the property is admissible to corroborate testimony based on personal knowledge or observation, or evidence seized during the execution of a search and seizure warrant, but shall not, in and of itself, be sufficient to establish the existence of a nuisance under this section.
RP §
You indicate that various community organizations have expressed an interest in obtaining information about the execution of search warrants issued on the basis of allegations of drug violations in their communities. Specifically, the State's Attorney's Office has been asked to provide the address and date of execution of these warrants.
The warrant, which is directed to police officers for execution, must describe "with reasonable particularity" the premises to be searched, the grounds for the search, and the name of the applicant for the warrant. CP §
The Maryland Rules provide that a search warrant is to be issued "with all practicable secrecy." Rule 4-601(b). More specifically, the search warrant and accompanying materials are not to be filed with the clerk until after the warrant is executed. Id.
The warrant must be executed within 15 days after it is issued. CP §
After execution of the warrant, the applicant must "return" the warrant to the court along with a written inventory of any property seized under the warrant.2 Rule 4-601(e). The warrant, return, inventory, and other materials are to be filed with the clerk and sealed unless the court orders them to be opened for inspection. Id. A person who has an interest in the premises searched or from whom items were seized is entitled to a court order permitting review of the warrant, inventory, and related papers. Rule 4-601(g).
When a warrant is part of an investigation involving drug offenses, murder, or pornography, the court may order that the affidavit supporting the warrant be sealed) even from a person with an interest in the property) for a period of up to 30 days, upon a showing of good cause.3 CP §
In a criminal prosecution in circuit court related to a search, the prosecutor is required to provide the defendant, without specific request, "any relevant material or information" regarding specific searches and seizures. Rule 4-263(a)(2)(A). In both circuit court and District Court, the prosecutor has an obligation to disclose any potentially exculpatory materials. Brady v. Maryland,
Apart from mandated disclosures to defendants and to a person subject to a search, the Maryland Rules provide that search warrants and the materials filed with them are to be treated with confidentiality. In particular, the rules provide a sanction for disclosure of search warrant information by any "public officer or employee" in the absence of authorization by the rules or a court order:
Contempt. Except for disclosures required for the execution of a search warrant or directed by this Rule or by order of court issued pursuant to this Rule, a person who discloses before its execution that a search warrant has been applied for or issued, or a public officer or employee who discloses after its execution the contents of a search warrant or the contents of any other paper filed with it, may be prosecuted for criminal contempt of court.
Rule 4-601(h) (emphasis added). Secrecy provisions regarding search warrant materials, and the accompanying threat of criminal contempt for their violation, have been part of the search warrant rule since its inception in 1967. See Former Maryland Rule 707(f) (1967).4
Rule 4-601(h) clearly forbids any "public officer or employee" from disclosing the contents of a search warrant or related materials, except in specified circumstances, on pain of being found in contempt of court. The address of the premises searched, the date of execution of the warrant, and the allegations of drug violations related to the property are part of the content of those documents. Thus, absent a court order permitting disclosure, the State's Attorney's Office may not provide that information to a community organization.5 Of course, if the date and location of a drug-related search warrant become part of the record of public court proceedings, that information may be provided to a community organization.
The reference in the nuisance abatement law to evidence obtained from the execution of search warrants does not itself provide an exception to the confidentiality of search warrant materials. On its face, it hardly appears to be a legislative authorization to the State's Attorney's Office to share information relating to search warrants with community groups.6 Rather, in our view, it simply recognizes that evidence obtained during a search may sometimes be available and probative of a property's relationship to illegal drug use.
Thus, a court order is ordinarily a prerequisite to disclosure of the contents of a search warrant and related materials. However, Rule 4-601 does not limit the purposes for which such a court order may be issued. No doubt the sealing requirement in the rule is designed to protect the integrity of law enforcement investigations, the fair trial rights of defendants,7 and, in some measure, the privacy of those subjected to searches. Disclosure of the date and location of a drug-related search for use in a nuisance abatement action would appear to be a valid basis for such a disclosure order, if the State's Attorney determines that disclosure would not impair an ongoing investigation and the court determines that it would not interfere with a defendant's trial. In those circumstances, the availability of this evidence to a community organization could help further the public policy expressed by the Legislature in the nuisance abatement law.
J. Joseph Curran, Jr. Attorney General
Robert N. McDonald Chief Counsel Opinions Advice
Notably, the parallel federal rule does not direct that executed warrants be routinely sealed. See Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
*Page 83
In Re the Baltimore Sun Company v. The Honorable Clarence E.... , 886 F.2d 60 ( 1989 )
in-re-search-warrant-for-secretarial-area-outside-office-of-thomas-gunn , 855 F.2d 569 ( 1988 )
Office State Prosecutor v. Judicial Watch, Inc. , 356 Md. 118 ( 1999 )
Becker v. State , 363 Md. 77 ( 2001 )