In our effort to get search warrants issued for blood in the dwi refusal cases,I have been modifying some of the forms provided to us by other offices to fit our scheme. The plan is to fax affidavits to the magistrates and have them fax back the appropriate paperwork,(until the originals can be filed the next business day) however, in all the forms I have, the affidavit to obatin the warrant is sworn to before a magistrate. Is that necessary or can the officer swear in the presence of a notary, for example, then forward the info to the magistrate? This plan was devised to try and keep form disrupting the magistrate's slumber as much as possible. Any thoughts?

CCP Art. 18.01 only requires that the affidavit be sworn. It could be sworn to in the presence of a notary or a peace officer (Gov. Code Sec. 602.002 (16)and then faxed to the magistrate.

Thanks for confirming my thought. The forms scared me and I thought I might have missed something. Want to do this right from the beginning.

could you let us know if you have modified your forms. What are you doing about fax machines at your magistrate's house? I thought about having the officer read the DIC 24 to the suspect on the way to the hospital and ask for blood. If the suspect consents then ok, if the suspect refuses then fax the application for search warrant from the hospital to the judge (on call).

We are tweaking the forms to provide boxes to be checked for each element of the FST that was failed so the officer does not have to write out the info. Merely a time saver. Also added the elements of the blood draw protocol to the affidavit of the person who drew the blood. Lastly, we modified the signatue for the affidavit to be presented to either a notary or officer under the provisions of the Govt. code as previously memtioned in this post.
I am planning on buying fax machines from hot check funds and allowing the magistrates to borrow them to keep at home as long as the process is working. We have a county hospital so I may place a machine there also to receive the judge's signed warrant.