People v. Superior Court of Puerto Rico
People v. Superior Court of Puerto Rico
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Braulio Colón Ferrer was accused in the Superior Court, Ponce Part, of a violation of the Spirits and Alcoholic Beverages Act. Act No. 6, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1936, Third Special Session. We issued a writ of certiorari to review the order of the trial court granting a motion to suppress the evidence obtained by virtue of a search warrant on the ground that the house searched was insufficiently described in the affidavit and the search warrant.
The description of the house to be searched, contained in the affidavit and search warrant, reads as follows: “. . . situated at Km. 9 of Matrullas road, a place known as Doña Juana, Ward of Matrullas, Orocovis, Puerto Rico, with a peaked roof, fenced with old wooden material, unpainted, with a front door and a window in the rear, an attached kitchen, and a window on each side.”
We cannot agree that this description is on its face fatally defective. We think the description was sufficiently specific so that the person charged with the duty of searching the house would know which house to search, and that nothing was left to the discretion of the executing officer. People v. Bonilla, 78 P.R.R. 144, 148, and cases cited. In the first
The order of the Superior Court granting the motion to suppress the evidence will be vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.