§ 26:371 — Searches and seizures

A. The secretary may search and examine pursuant to the provisions of this Section, all places of storage except private residences, which may be searched only in the manner provided by law, and all means of transportation whenever there is probable cause to believe that the provisions of this Chapter have been or are being therein violated. Any vehicle or other means of transportation, other than a common carrier, caught or detected transporting any alcoholic beverages without the required tax being paid or a bond furnished to guarantee the payment of the tax may be seized by the secretary in order to secure it as evidence in a trial brought under any provisions of this Chapter.
B. No place, other than such as is open to the public, shall be invaded and searched for alcoholic beverages except by an officer named in a search warrant issued by a competent court having the power of a committing magistrate upon the filing in the court of an affidavit reciting that affiant has reasons to believe and believes that the named place is being utilized as a site for the violation of the provisions of this Chapter together with such additional evidence as the court may require to make out a prima facie case. No house, room, or apartment used as, or which apparently is, a bona fide residence is subject to invasion and search, except by an officer designated in a search warrant issued by a competent court having the powers of a committing magistrate, upon the filing in the court of an affidavit by two reliable persons reciting that they have reasons to believe and do believe that the place of residence is being used as a cloak or cover for a violation of the provisions of this Chapter and setting forth the specific violation being committed therein, together with such additional corroborating evidence as the court may require to establish the probable existence of the alleged violation.
C. The warrant shall be directed to a duly authorized peace officer and the premises described in the warrant shall be searched and all alcoholic beverages, all equipment, and all property used or designed or intended to be used in the keeping for sale or sale, of alcoholic beverages on the premises shall be seized by the peace officer. The keeper of the place or the person to whom the beverages or property belongs shall be apprehended and brought before the court issuing the warrant to abide the further orders of the court. The officer to whom the search warrant is directed shall make proper return thereon of the action taken on it, describing the alcoholic beverages or property seized, if any. The beverages or property so seized shall be held by this officer without anyone having the right to have them released upon writ or claim, except beverages seized in a bona fide dwelling house. These last shall be released to their owner upon his giving bond, with security for their value conditioned upon their return to the peace officer upon order of the court. The court, after the trial of the accused, shall order all property and beverages of high alcoholic content illegally held by the accused at the time of the seizure to be immediately and publicly destroyed by the sheriff or peace officer designated by the court.
D. The court shall preserve in its records, subject to inspection at any time by the public, the affidavits above referred to. If it should appear that the person or persons making the affidavit did so maliciously or without probable cause, and any house, room, or apartment used as a bona fide residence is searched by reason of the issuance of a search warrant based upon that affidavit, the affiant or affiants making it shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not less than ten days nor more than sixty days, or both.

Legislative History

Acts 1987, No. 696, §1.