Wrong Address on Search Warrant Consequences

What happens if there is a wrong address on a search warrant ? In State v. Chavarria, 992 S.W.2d 22, 23-25 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1997, pet. ref'd), the court of appeals held that the trial court did not err in granting a motion to suppress when the search warrant described the address as 2518 Arlington, there was no such address, and the structure searched was at 2508 Arlington. The warrant in Chavarria described the premises as a garage having stairs on the side leading to the second floor, and noted that the front door faced south, when the premises searched had no garage with stairs leading to the second floor, and the front door faced west, rather than south. See id. A search warrant must name or identify, as near as may be, the place or thing to be searched. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 18.04(2) (Vernon 1977). Technical discrepancies in the descriptive portions of a search warrant will not automatically render the warrant defective. See Bridges v. State, 574 S.W.2d 560, 562 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978). In describing the place to be searched, a warrant must be sufficient on its face to enable any executing officer to locate and distinguish the property and avoid a reasonable probability of mistaken execution. See Etchieson v. State, 574 S.W.2d 753, 759 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978); Mason v. State, 838 S.W.2d 657, 660 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 1992, pet. ref'd).