Sandy, UT asked in Criminal Law for Utah

Q: Are the prosecution allowed to introduce as hearsay evidence statements made in an email that were not part of the SW.

SW=Search Warrant.

This happened during a preliminary hearing where the prosecution used email msgs that they received prior to getting the search warrant as supporting evidence for the search warrant. However, the email msgs were not part of the SW affidavit.

Don't they need to stay within the four corners of the affidavit for what can be considered support for the search warrant?

Are they introducing evidence that falls outside of the scope of the case?

Should these msgs have been used in the prosecution's efforts to pursuade the judge to proceed forward with the case?

Incidentally, these msgs are the only discovery that I'm aware of that was not shared with me by my public defender.

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: Your question is not clear. Please contact a criminal defense attorney in your area, or make an appointment with your public defender to go over the question.

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