by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“SJC”) upheld a superior court’s order suppressing evidence obtained from a cellphone because the search of the cellphone was unsupported by probable cause, and the officer failed to follow guidelines relating to inventory of property.
Tomas Barillas was ...
by Anthony Accurso
Since the rise of social media and ever-present cellphones with cameras, the narrative around these developments has been that justice is rapidly democratizing.
While many law enforcement failures and abuses have been exposed by citizens with technology, this trend is not the case for all technology. “Access ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit remanded a case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland because the lower court failed to provide sufficient development on the record to determine whether the use of a stingray device violated the defendant’s rights. ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A New Jersey man reaches out to police ahead of a possible altercation to make sure authorities are aware of his son’s autism-related issues.
Gary Weitzen’s son Christopher has autism. Christopher has anxiety issues, and it is difficult for him to look people in the eye. ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Office of Homeland Security (“OHS”) has been purchasing “anonymized” cellphone location data for use in Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) investigations, according to information obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
Under Carpenter v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 2206 (2018), law enforcement agents are ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Indiana suppressed all evidence resulting from search warrants obtained on the basis that the sheriff’s department concluded a suspect “stole” the GPS device being used to track him when it failed to transmit its location for 10 days.
Derek Heuring was suspected of ...
by Anthony Accurso
The government declassified a court order from October 2018 that details the FBI’s misuse of its access to mass surveillance data collected in partnership with large tech and communications companies.
The order detailed what many Americans suspect: Federal agencies misuse mass surveillance in contravention of controls Congress ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice recently announced grants of more than $145 million being awarded through various programs it helps to fund. These grants will cover initiatives centered on forensic science.
Notable inclusions from this total are:
• $78 million to state ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in 2018, which has been slowly changing the way courts interpret the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in our era of mobile technology — and impacting the day-to-day investigative efforts of police.
In Carpenter v. United States, ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of California announced an extension of its prior rule of when to allow application of an amended sentencing statute, such that it may be applied to a defendant’s sentence still under appeal even though that sentence resulted when his probation was revoked.
In November ...
