Posted on 08/08/2010 11:29:50 PM PDT by Zakeet
Ruling that federal agents erred in attaching a satellite tracking device to a vehicle without a search warrant, a federal appeals court has reversed the life sentence of man accused of running a major Washington drug ring.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday found that the government's use of GPS technology to track defendant Antoine Jones' Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment.
Civil liberties groups that aided in the appeal of Mr. Jones, whose case involved the largest cocaine seizure in city history, called the ruling an important legal victory for privacy rights.
The three-judge ruling called the GPS information key to the federal prosecution of Mr. Jones, who owned Club Levels in Northeast Washington across the street from the Metropolitan Police Department's Fifth District headquarters.
"The GPS data were essential to the government's case," the court ruled. "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."
Stephen Leckar, one of the lawyers on the Jones appeal, said the ruling "recognizes the Fourth Amendment's continued significance in promoting privacy in a high-tech age."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I fear that Holder won’t care, or Bummer would simply make it a CIA operation and bypass all that folderol. After all Bummer’s got an assassination list of Americans (apparently all Moose names now, but who knows what might be on it in the future).
Are you kidding, the moment that police tell a court they think the defendant’s dough came from drugs, the court will freeze it. I guess public defenders have to cut their teeth somehow.
Just to be fair, what happened to all the screeching about Presidential snooping under Bush, which came to a staccato silence under Obama? There is, at best, a gross partisan bias here.
It does seem to depend on whose ox is being gored!
But you and I know these people have nothing to worry about because they don't break the law. I doubt anyone in this day and time can go one day without breaking a law unless they are in a coma. It's not that they are criminals mind you it's because the government loves laws to enslave us. The Bill of Rights which is what the Judge was upholding which is the law and the second amendment is all that keeps us from being slaves to government indeed.
And this is assuming that the gummit corruption hasn’t reached the point that they even care about rule of law at all. President? What president? We have an emperor.
The “snooping” and arrest DID happen under Bush. The joint FBI/MPDC task force began their investigation in 2004; the appellants were arrested in 2005. A DC jury found them guilty in January 2008.
And if they'd simply gotten a search warrant, instead of acting like a gang of lawless cowboys, the ruling would've been different.
Beyond the attachment of the device, this does not differ markedly from actual physical surveillance of the suspect, but I can understand how the court thought that was over the top. I wonder why they did not get a warrant? Clearly there was preparation time for this operation to attach the device.
Ever look carefully at the operator's manual for a car built since 1996 or so? There's a paragraph in there that informs the owner that the contents of the vehicle's computer may be reviewed by law enforcement agents or discovered by insurance company representatives. In the event of an accident severe enough to raise interest in the "black box" data, the vehicle would most likely have been towed to a police impound yard and thus, Fourth Amendment protection would already be gone.
This case is more like the cops gaining access to the car while the driver is in the shopping mall, movie theater or wherever - just to harvest data on where the car had been, how fast it had been driven and whether or not seat belts had been fastened. It is nothing like the use of modern labor-saving devices to sift through *existing* data (which presumably was gathered by legitimate means). The car is the defendant's property. Without a warrant, anything the police take from it - including data from a device that they installed - is a seizure. The court didn't say that police couldn't use their high-tech toy... but they must obtain a warrant to do so. Seems reasonable enough.
And I agree. My opinion is that the ruling was correct. Monitoring a vehicle’s movement with a GPS involves planting a device. Just like bugging your house. Make them get a damn warrant to do it.
And, cops do things that are unconstitutional all the time, no reason for us to approve of it.
If Zero had his way, GPS tracking would let him know whose vehicles went to Tea Party rallies, and that would get a Gestapo visit. And he’d be wiretapping, and bugging homes to find out who dissidents were.
If the cops have probable cause, they can get a warrant.
Fairly soon, we can expect some arrests being made for transporting raw milk across the state line from PA to NJ... using EZ Pass data.
“Are you sure you want Holder and those working under him to have that kind of power?”
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I’m sure I DON’T! As some wise person once said, the only legitimate function of government is to protect the citizens from the criminals but inevitably the government usurps the function of the criminal and becomes more of a danger to the citizens than the criminals could ever be. People need to look around and see that it is happening now.
If cops can hang a tracking device on any car they please they can hang one on your car just because it is parked near a car that belongs to some cop’s girlfriend or wife who just might be “slippin’ around”. That is just the first example that comes to mind, I’m sure I could think of a dozen others in a short time.
Did they even have to attach anything? *Onstar*, and all that.If it exists, subpoena the data and reopen the case with the new evidence.
Larry Flynt:
If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, it will protect all of you.
Elks, Eagles, Lions, maybe even the Rotary Club...
Why attach a tracker when most people carry a cell phone with a gps device installed. The FBI can track you very easily.
That is key word, most.
Wanted people can be pretty crafty at staying under the radar.
There is always some dolt of a woman/women that men hiding from the law can use for cell phone needs amongst other needs to carry on their life of crime or addictions.
Heck isn’t that what they did to Scott Peterson’s truck after they suspected he killed Lacy?
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