04-21-09 State v. Ross Finesmith
A-1056-08T4
Under the "reasonable continuation" doctrine, a single
search warrant may provide authorization for the executing
officers to make more than one entry into the premises
identified in the warrant if they are unable to locate an item
of evidence specified in the warrant during their initial entry.
In order for a re-entry into premises to be considered a
reasonable continuation of the search authorized by the warrant,
two conditions must be satisfied: first, the subsequent entry
must be a continuation of the original search, rather than a new
and separate search; and second, the decision to conduct a
second entry to continue the search must be reasonable under the
totality of the circumstances.
