압수ㆍ수색영장의 집행 과정에서 사인 참여의 기준과 한계 ― 대법원 2024. 12. 16. 선고 2020모3326 결정 ―

Under what circumstances and to what extent the participation of private persons will be permitted when executing a search and seizure warrant is bound to be a significant issue as clear regulations permitting or disallowing this are lacking. The lower court and the Supreme Court have different judgments regarding the investigative agency's use of private persons to select evidence in the process of executing a warrant. In the case of the lower court, the participation of such private persons is not participation as a “principal agent” but as an “assistant.” While it was considered acceptable if it was at the level of “assisting the authority”, the Supreme Court ruled that in all other cases, except for some cases where participation of a private person is permitted as an exception, allowing a private person to participate in the execution of a warrant not only violates the principles of due process but also raises concerns about invasion of privacy. In a situation where there is very little domestic literature or reference on the topic, the author intends to provide a type of analysis on the participation of private persons in warrant execution in the future by analyzing and discussing the content of private persons' participation in warrant execution as discussed in U.S. case law and statutory law.