Commonwealth v. Pellegrini

The court today rules, ante at 88, that a search warrant, which a judge inadvertently failed to sign, is valid because the absence of the judge’s signature “should be deemed a ministerial defect which does not invalidate the warrant.”* 1 I dissent.

*92A search warrant unsigned by a judge is a nullity, void on its face, and void ab initio. Kelley v. State, 55 Ala. App. 402, 403 (1975). State v. Vuin, 185 N.E.2d 506, 510 (Ohio Ct. C.P. 1962). See State v. Spaw, 18 Ohio App. 3d 77, 79 (1984). Such a warrant is invalid because “it shows on its face that it lacks the signature of any [judge or]…