one of my favorite TV shows.
Posted on 08/29/2015 8:58:17 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Attorneys in Baltimore are reviewing hundreds of convictions after an investigation revealed that police there have secretly used cell phone surveillance tools in nearly 2,000 criminal cases.
Following a report in USA Today that exposed the extent of the Baltimore Police Department’s use of cell-tracking technology to locate suspects sought in connection with low-level crimes, lawyers in the city’s public defender office now tell the paper they plan to ask the court to toss out “a large number” of convictions.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Thanks for posting this. No doubt some misguided person will suggest we throw out the Fourth Amendment.
4th
Amendment only applies in utopia America
I don’t see how this could result in any case being thrown out.
If probable cause to arrest or reasonable suspicion to question a person exists, it doesn’t matter how they are located.
Hopefully (though it is a longshot) the investigating officers documented these elements before such tools were used.
“Thanks for posting this. No doubt some misguided person will suggest we throw out the Fourth Amendment.”
4th Amendment extremely important, I do not want to be tracked especially by Obamas or any government goons, but an honest philosophical question, not an argument...
What is your solution to the “where were you on the night of....I was at yadayadayada, well, according to your cell phone you were at the crime scene” can a criminal rob or kill someone and be allowed to lie his ass off as long as there were no physical eye witnesses? Remember not argument, as I am totally against this, just a philosophical question.
The cops need to stop “cheating” when trying to catch criminals. Only DemocRAT politicians are allowed to cheat.
Wouldn't it be smarter to throw out your cell phone ?
Why is it I think this is just a way to ‘erase’ the crimes of a specific minority group ?
4th amendment? No, like the 2nd, it doesn’t apply in non-white urban areas. /s
This should solve Baltimore’s crime problem.
So, they didn’t just bump into Freddie Grey?
Because you hate that specific minority group and hate the Bill of Rights.
What they did was revert to a military-intelligence type concept of getting to subject #1 and simply looking at the numbers he was calling to build up a listing of connections...without any court paperwork. As they got to subject #2, they continued on and simply used the device to keep building ‘networks’.
I think that it’s possible to get a smart lawyer...go through court action...and have a conviction thrown out. But here’s the harsh side of pay-back...then you sue the city for this time spent in jail. Maybe your client spent six months in jail...fine, the client will ask for $10 million for violation of his rights, and settle for $3 million. All you need is a hundred such cases and the city is in serious financial jeopardy. Plus a bunch of rich lawyers get richer in the end.
The Stringray is a great asset if it was used with a court order....something that the feds have refused to do and the state is going along the same way. Eventually...someone in the public will get a copy....build tens of thousands and flood the market. The bad guys will use it to build up their picture of the cop’s network and start to bribe or blackmail them into submission.
That just tells you where the phone is. The phone's owner may be elsewhere. That's known as doubt in the courtroom.
bttt
Your cell phone location only means your cellphone was there. It is not proof you were there. It doesn’t matter how unlikely that scenario actually is because if it were allowed then criminals could alibi themselves by having the cell phone placed away from their crime scene.
I see this like a traffic cameras were no one actually IDs the driver. A cop must see your ID and confirm that you are the person in the ID and the he swears that he witnessed your violation. Unless that is done then there is no proof.
Initially, here in California, judges were tossing out photo radar and traffic camera citations for the reason you state. So the State merely created a new class of law violations call “infractions” which lowered the burden of proof requirement. But the place where it has hit the public the worst is in the area of property crimes. Now, if you call the cops to roust a repeated violator who is “camping out” on the stairway of your commercial office building. all they can do is issue him a citation and make him leave. Since most vagrants have nothing, the courts (if the individual even dares to show up) is sent off with a warning. I did get one violator who was plugging in his electric blanket in an outdoor service plug for “theft of utilities,” but again these people are a “dry hole” financially. and the legal system doesn’t have the bandwidth to jail them all. The other interesting “infraction” is breaking into cars. If a thief breaks into your car here and is apprehended with stolen property whose value is seen to be less than $900., the cops have to issue him a citation and release him. See how nice our new RAT laws are here in CA!
one of my favorite TV shows.
The use of this system is a 4th Amendment violation if not used with a warrant. The wording of the 4th is even more clear than the 2nd.
The end never justifies the means. LEO agencies are getting lazy and bypassing the Constitution.
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