Court: Suspects can run but they can't hide from search warrants, at least not in Massachusetts

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the gun and drug-distribution convictions of a Cape man who allegedly moved out of Barnstable to avoid a lengthy investigation by Cape law-enforcement officials.

Joseph Mendes had sought to overturn his convictions, arguing that a Barnstable District Court judge had no authority to issue search warrants for his new digs in Bourne, because Bourne is not part of that court's district. Evidence from the searches authorized by those warrants was used to convict him.

Nuh uh, the state's highest court says:

Contrary to the positions taken by the defendant, as well as the Commonwealth, we hold that where the application is supported by probable cause, a District Court judge or magistrate may issue a search warrant authorizing a search for evidence at any specified location in the Commonwealth, regardless whether the criminal activity to which the warrant application pertains is located within or outside that court's territorial jurisdiction.

Complete ruling.