Ritter v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant Clifford Ritter was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and committing a felony with a firearm and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Ritter appealed, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence found in his residence because the premises to be searched were not identified with particularity as is required by Ark. R. Crim. P. 13.2(b). Specifically, Ritter contended that, because the name and address in the search warrant incorrectly identified his residence, police officers had no authority to enter his property. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in denying Ritter's motion to suppress where (1) a search warrant is not automatically rendered invalid if it contains an incorrect address of the property to be searched, (2) the likelihood of searching the wrong residence was mitigated by the fact that the officers executing the warrant personally knew which premises were to be searched, and (3) the premises that were intended to be searched were, in fact, searched.
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