IN: Failure to execute social media warrant in 10 days per statute did not require suppression where PC still existed

The search warrant on defendant’s social media accounts took longer to be executed than the ten days state statute provided for, but that wasn’t reason to exclude the product of the search. Despite the statutory violation, the real question is whether probable cause still existed at the time of execution, and it did. Drawing from Fourth Amendment case law and Rule 41, the federal rule would be the same. Bosworth v. State, 2025 Ind. App. LEXIS 425 (Dec. 23, 2025):

P20 Additionally, we acknowledge Indiana authority suggesting that the question of timeliness of execution of a search warrant does not stop with application of Indiana Code section 35-33-5-7 alone. For example, in Huffines v. State, 739 N.E.2d 1093, 1097 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000), trans. denied, we concluded that a search warrant, which had been executed within the ten-day statutory period, had been improperly executed because the probable cause supporting the issuance of the search warrant had dissipated. Our opinion in Huffines indicates that the relevant question is not merely when a warrant was executed but rather whether probable cause remained at the time of execution.

P21 The parties have cited no Indiana authority that indicates that a violation of Indiana Code section 35-33-5-7(b) necessitates exclusion of the evidence, and we find none. In fact, we have found no Indiana caselaw indicating how a trial court should handle evidence discovered as a result of an untimely-executed warrant. When Indiana law is silent on a question, we may look to guidance from an interpretation of a similar question by the federal courts. See Robinson v. State, 682 N.E.2d 806, 810 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997) (providing that when confronted by an issue for the first time, we may look to guidance from federal interpretations of similar questions).