CA3: Description of person to be seized by his street name, description, and location was particular enough

Identification of person to be arrested in the arrest warrant by street name and description and where to find him was particular enough. United States v. Dunaway, 482 Fed. Appx. 714 (3d Cir. 2012):

Here, the warrant did not include the appellant’s proper name, Nisia Dunaway, referring to him instead merely as “BLIZZ.” But the warrant did provide a physical description of him, including his height, skin color, hair style and color, and build— though not, as Dunaway points out, his age. Further, the warrant specified that he would be found arriving by train in Johnstown at 6:00 pm on April 10, 2010.

The warrant’s physical description of “Blizz” and the specific location where he would be found at a precise time were, together, sufficiently particular that an executing officer could identify the appellant with reasonable certainty. Compare Doe, 703 F.2d at 747 (holding that warrant to arrest “John Doe a/k/a “Ed?” was unconstitutional for lack of particularity), with Ferrone, 438 F.2d at 389 (upholding search of defendant’s person pursuant to warrant to search “John Doe, a white male with black wavy hair and stocky build observed using the telephone in Apartment 4-C 1806 Patricia Lane, East McKeesport, Pennsylvania”). See also 2 LaFave, supra, § 4.5(e), at 598 n.134 (collecting cases). Thus, we reject Dunaway’s contention that the warrant to search his person was so lacking in particularity as to be an unlawful general warrant.