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this Supreme Court Agree Friday to decide the constitutionality of a broad search warrant that collects cell phone users’ location history to find people near crime scenes.
The case involves so-called “geofence search warrants” Google Police chase bank robber in suburbia richmondVirginia. Geofencing is an increasingly popular investigative tool that finds location data for everyone in a specific location over a specific time period.
police This information was used to arrest Okello Chatrie in a 2019 robbery at Call Federal Credit Union. midlothian. Chatri eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.
Chatri’s attorneys challenged the search warrant, saying it violated his privacy because it allowed authorities to collect the location history of people near the bank without any evidence linking them to the robbery. Prosecutors argued that Chatri had no expectation of privacy because he voluntarily opted into Google’s location history.
A federal judge agreed that the search violated Chatry’s rights but still allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who requested the warrant had reason to believe he was acting correctly.
A federal appeals court in Richmond upheld the conviction in an incomplete ruling. In a separate case, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofencing search warrants violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.
The case is expected to be argued later this year, either in the spring or in October, when the court’s next term begins.