In first, U.S. judge throws out cell phone 'stingray' evidence
In first, U.S. judge throws out cell phone 'stingray'
evidence
NEW YORK | BY NATE RAYMOND Wed Jul 13, 2016 10:29am EDT
For the first time, a federal judge has suppressed
evidence obtained without a warrant by U.S. law enforcement using a stingray, a
surveillance device that can trick suspects' cell phones into revealing their
locations.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan on
Tuesday ruled that defendant Raymond Lambis' rights were violated when the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration used such a device without a warrant to find
his Washington Heights apartment.
The DEA had used a stingray to identify Lambis' apartment
as the most likely location of a cell phone identified during a
drug-trafficking probe. Pauley said doing so constituted an unreasonable
search.
"Absent a search warrant, the government may not
turn a citizen's cell phone into a tracking device," Pauley wrote.
The ruling marked the first time a federal judge had
suppressed evidence obtained using a stingray, according to the American Civil
Liberties Union, which like other privacy advocacy groups has criticized law
enforcement's use of such devices.
"This opinion strongly reinforces the strength of
our constitutional privacy rights in the digital age," ACLU attorney
Nathan Freed Wessler said in a statement.
It was unclear whether prosecutors would seek to appeal.
A spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office was
prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
Stingrays, also known as "cell site
simulators," mimic cell phone towers in order to force cell phones in the
area to transmit "pings" back to the devices, enabling law
enforcement to track a suspect's phone and pinpoint its location.
Critics of the technology call it invasive and say it has
been regularly used in secret to catch suspect in violation of their rights
under the U.S. Constitution.
The ACLU has counted 66 agencies in 24 states and the
District of Columbia that own stingrays but said that figure underrepresents
the actual number of devices in use given what it called secrecy surrounding
their purchases.
A Maryland appeals court in March became what the ACLU
said was the first state appellate court to order evidence obtained using a
stingray suppressed. Pauley's decision was the first at the federal level.
The U.S. Justice Department in September changed its
internal policies and required government agents to obtain a warrant before
using a cell site simulator.
Bernard Seidler, Lambis' lawyer, noted that occurred a
week after his client was charged. He said it was unclear if the drug case
against Lambis would now be dismissed.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by
Cynthia Osterman)
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