Criminal Law in New Jersey: Search and Seizure and the Reasonable Coninuation Doctrine

A case recently decided by an Appellate Court in New Jersey has determined that law enforcement agents could enter a defendant’s home on more than one occasion on the basis of just one search warrant. In that case the government obtained a search warrant to enter the defendant’s home for purpose of seizing certain computers associated with child pornography offenses. One of the computer was a laptop which the defendant claimed was in his office. The government returned to conduct a second search after it learned that the computer was at the defendant’s home.

The court endorsed the process grounded upon a principle of law evolving from the federal courts titled the “reasonable continuation doctrine” which allows a government agent to suspend a authorized search and to reenter a search site at a later time. Basically, the doctrine allows for a subsequent search if it was a mere continuation of the original search and not a new one. The decision to conduct subsequent search had to be reasonable under all the circumstances.