The Supreme Court of the United States has held in their recent ruling that police cannot search a persons cell phone without a warrant. Even if the person has been arrested and a cell phone is found on their person the police cannot go through that persons phone unless they have a valid warrant.
Police Cannot Search your Phone
The recent ruling of Riley v California and United States v. Wurie the court ruled that police could not search the cell phone of a person they had just arrested.
The Court examined the traditional justifications for allowing warrantless searches to prevent destruction of evidence and for officer saftey that occur when a person is arrested. The Court ruled that these issues do not apply to a cell phone search.
The Court noted that a person’s entire private life can be reconstructed due to a cell phone’s immense capacity to store many different types of highly personal information.
Officers may examine a persons phone to make sure that it doesn't conceal evidence or a weapon such as a razor.
The prosecutor argued that there is a risk of destruction of evidence on the phone by remote jammers and data encryption but the court did not feel that was a prevalent issue.
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The court concluded it's opinion with this: Our answer to the question of what police need to do before searching a cell phone seized incident to arrest is accordingly simple - get a warrant.
Plymouth Criminal Lawyer
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Criminal defense lawyer, Aaron J. Boria is located in Plymouth, Michigan on Penniman Ave about two miles from the 35th District Court. Aaron has been in private practice since 2010 and has successfully handled hundreds of criminal cases. For more information about criminal lawyer, Aaron J. Boria click here, or visits us on Facebook!
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