State of Tennessee v. Timothy Wade Davis

Case Number
E2003-02162-SC-R11-CD

We granted the defendant permission to appeal to consider whether the exact copy requirement of Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(c)1 applies to an affidavit that has been incorporated by reference into a search warrant. Upon consideration, we hold that the exact copy requirement expressly applies to search warrants only and does not apply to incorporated affidavits. The record supports the trial court’s finding that the defendant a copy of the search warrant was “identical in every respect” to the original search warrant. Furthermore, even if the exact copy requirement expressly applied to affidavits, we would conclude, as did the Court of Criminal Appeals, that the insignificant differences between the original affidavit and the defendant’s copy of the affidavit do not warrant suppression of the evidence. For these reasons, we affirm the judgments of the trial court and Court of Criminal Appeals.

Authoring Judge
Justice William M. Barker
Originating Judge
Richard R. Baumgartner
Case Name
State of Tennessee v. Timothy Wade Davis
Date Filed
Dissent or Concur
This is a dissenting opinion
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