A search warrant should not violate a reasonable intrusion of privacy, should specify where places involved in search and should be based on probable cause; therefore, names should be correct.
This would be for the defense to bring up as a reason to suppress the evidence found in the search. The prosecutor probably would not know that the names were wrong, or they would not approve the search warrant.
posted by Anonymous
Prosecutors don't "approve" search warrants. The whole purpose of the warrant is that it be submitted for approval by a neutral judge. add a comment
If the name is spelled incorrectly, the address and probable cause to search that resident must be correct. A name misspelled by one or two letters or a nickname in place of a legal name do not void a search warrant.
On some occassions the police do not know the name of the person or persons at a location in order to have that information in the search warrant. The name, location and what is being searched for needs to be specific enough that the search warrant can be executed be a reasonable police officer.
The primary issue of a search warrant is the specifics of what is to be searched. For example, a property belong to a specific individual may be the target of a search but the names of the individuals residing at that address may be different.
