On October 8, 2026, Invention Incarnate, the maintainer of this site, sent a written request to the Clerk of Courts of the Essex County Superior Court in Salem, Massachusetts for the returned search-warrant files connected to Commonwealth v. Patrick Gordon, docket 2677CR00083.
The request asks for the warrant, application, supporting affidavit and return for each of the three search warrants that the Commonwealth’s probable-cause-for-arrest statement says were granted on December 22, 2025. It also asks the clerk to identify the separate docket number for each warrant, and, if any part is impounded, to identify the order that impounds it.
The request followed several in-person attempts to obtain the files. On October 7, 2026 the Superior Court clerk’s counter provided the public docket report only.
The letter asks for a reply within ten business days. This site will report the response.
Why it matters. The statement that a trooper saw “gun magazines” on December 18, 2025 appears in the probable-cause-for-arrest statement. Whether it also appears in the affidavits that supported the search warrants cannot be known until those affidavits are released. See What happened.
Document. Request to the Clerk of Courts, October 8, 2026 (PDF). A residential address, a license plate, the sender’s name and email address, and the names of a trooper and a judge are redacted.
Update: the clerk’s office has replied. On October 9, 2026 the Office of the Essex County Clerk of Courts answered by email. It said the search-warrant materials had been located and that the warrant and accompanying materials are “impounded by order of the Superior Court until December 22, 2026.” The request had asked that any impoundment order be identified by date and docket entry, and that the separate docket number of each warrant be provided; the reply did not include either.