Posted on 08/08/2010 11:29:50 PM PDT by Zakeet
How convoluted in their reasoning can these libtard bastard judges get?
I think that it was about attaching devices to our automobiles, not tailing someone.
No... that;s not what they said.
They said, the government cannot use GPS technology to track defendants.
No one was “searching” or “seizing” here, just attaching and following.
This character’s arrest ended with the largest drug bust in DC history but the ACLU and others had to aid his defense? It’s not as if he were a typical street thug trafficking in small numbers.
It’ll be interesting to see who the 3 judges on the panel are. Also, hopefully, it will be reversed by the full court, or at least SCOTUS.
without a warrant...
I just looked up recent opinions at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and can’t ID this case from their list?
08-3030-1259298.pdf USA v. Lawrence Maynard Released August 6, 2010
08-3115-1259307.pdf USA v. Ernest Tepper Released August 6, 2010
08-5182-1258669.pdf United States of America v. Project on Govt. Oversight Released August 3, 2010
08-5385-1259314.pdf Tony Sellmon v. Isaac Fulwood, Jr. Released August 6, 2010
09-1042-1259322.pdf NetCoalition v. SEC Released August 6, 2010
09-5176-1259328.pdf Michael Boardley v. Department of Interior Released August 6, 2010
09-5286-1258679.pdf Nick Koretoff v. Tom Vilsack Released August 3, 2010
09-5360-1259333.pdf Howmet Corporation v. EPA Released August 6, 2010
09-7079-1259339.pdf MBI Group, Inc. v. Credit Foncier Du Cameroun Released August 6, 2010
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/201008.htm
Now, had the cops planted a simple homing device which assisted them in following the suspect around, this ruling might've been different. The data-logging aspect seems to be the big issue here.
It’s USA v. Maynard. Maynard and Jones were co-defendants.
Actually, this was not a “libtard” panel, and, actually, it is a pretty sound decision. You can read the opinion for yourself on the DC Circuit website at the following link:
http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/bin/opinions/allopinions.asp
The case is US v. Maynard, No. 08-3030, and was issued on August 6, 2010.
First, there were two defendants from the same drug crimes. Maynard’s conviction was affirmed; Jones’ conviction was reversed.
Second, the panel is far from a bunch of egg sucking liberal dogs. It consisted of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a Ronald Reagan appointee (remember him, he was nominated for the Supreme Court, but had to withdraw when it was found out that he smoked a little pot with students while a law professor at Harvard); Thomas B. Griffith, a Bush 43 appointee and former law professor at BYU; and David S. Tatel, a Clinton appointee but a pretty neat guy (he is blind but was a marathon runner in his younger days; he came to the court from the same place as John Roberts—a partnership at the DC firm once known as Hogan and Hartson). Ginsburg and Griffith are conservatives; Tatel has struck me as a fairly sane and rational judge (I am a member of the DC Circuit Bar and have argued cases in front of Ginsburg and Tatel).
I think the concept of requiring the government to get a warrant before attaching a GPS unit to your car is sound; they’ve got no business engaging in warrantless tracking (which is in essence a search) without a warrant. This is a different concept from hot pursuit.
I don’t want the damn gov’t attaching GPS systems to anybody’ vehicle without restrictions. I don’t care about this guy, but I don’t want them to be able to pull this crap on me.
They are “searching” for movements and they’re “seizing” that information.
“The GPS data were essential to the government’s case,...By combining them with Mr. Jones’s cell-phone records, the government was able to paint a picture of Mr. Jones’s movements that made credible the allegation that he was involved in drug trafficking.”
So his conviction should be overturned because it was the use of GPS data that made the allegations credible rather than by, say, “... the largest cocaine seizure in city history..”
OK, if you say so your honors.
When I read of this type decision, the vengeful side of me (God help me) hopes that the ACLU lawyers and those judges one day suffer personally from those drugs being on THEIR streets. But, oh, no. They don’t live in “that” part of town. They think they are safe.
thanks. So two skunks got off. Makes my day.
Yes, but if police can do warrantless GPS tracking on this character, then they can do it on anyone they suspect. Are you sure you want Holder and those working under him to have that kind of power?
Its not like they couldn't have found a judge to give them one.
According to the article, the police planted a GPS tracker on the car, and then "By combining [the results] with Mr. Jones's cell-phone records, the government was able to paint a picture of Mr. Jones's movements that [proved] that he was involved in drug trafficking."
The court then drew a distinction between "visual surveillance" and "virtual surveillance," ignoring the government's argument that they could have obtained the same information by closely tailing Jones. In other words, police attempts to save time and money by more easily tracking the suspect using a homing device were disallowed by the court.
Bottom line: data logging was not the issue. Nor was the increased accuracy of GPS. Police use of a "homing device" was the gist of the successful appeal.
Personally, I look at this case as one similar to a challenge based on using the NCIC database to search rap sheets to identify suspects based on their MO's instead of hand searching files, or use of computer software instead of visually searching fingerprint records.
The court disallowed the police the use of labor saving technology, and the court was wrong.
The police can already tail anybody any time they want.
In my case, my wife and I literally go nowhere other than work, grocery shopping, church, and to visit our daughter and grandchildren. Other than the fact it would be a waste of taxpayer money, I have absolutely no problem with a police escort.
“Are you sure you want Holder and those working under him to have that kind of power? “
Holder already has that kind of power vested in him by the king and his czars. Holder and his thugs are untouchable if you haven’t noticed. And if you don’t think so, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you.
These so called labor saving PEEK-A-BOO devices into your private life will be your Yoke to keep you on Master Governments plantation as it's slave. I can't believe so many persons are willing just to say Here Master Government know every detail of my life I'm fine with it.
Here's something which may open your eyes if you read it. This could happen to you thanks to those labor saving devices you support and no limits or protections of our rights placed upon them. In turnabout, ex-convict gets data on neighbors Republicans did this to us. How much more do you think the DEMs will do?
The cops who put the device on without a warrant should be fired as an example to other LEO of what not to do. They knew better.
That post had to do with financing the drug dealer’s defense. If Jones had that much cocaine to play with, he has enough to fund his own defense. I am not an ACLU donor (as IF) but if I were, I wouldn’t want my donations going to support someone who can well afford his own defense.
I could care less who Holder & Co. suspect. Or who they would follow with GPS. Let them waste their time tracking me. If I’m not committing any crime they are merely wasting federal resources.
They didn’t randomly select Antoine’s name from the phone book. They figured out a cost-effective way to nail him. Till their honors said it was violating Jones’s privacy. You have to have freedom in this country to commit your crimes in privacy, dammit!!!
The GPS data alone won’t convict anyone; its data being oombined with other evidence of a crime is what would lead to a charge and conviction, as it did here.
The judge who wrote the opinion was a Reagan nominee to the Supreme Court, btw. Alas, his own (relatively minor) drug “issues” did him in.
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