United States v. James, No. 19-3789 (8th Cir. 2021)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress in an action where defendant was convicted of robbing or attempting to rob multiple stores around the Twin Cities. Law enforcement identified defendant by searching cellular-tower records, which showed that defendant's cell phone was at or near at least four of the robberies.
In this case, the affidavits for the search warrants explained why there was a fair probability that the cellular-tower records would identify the robber. Considered in their totality, the court concluded that the facts provided a substantial basis to conclude that probable cause existed. The court explained that the judges knew from the affidavits that the robberies were connected by a common modus operandi; that the robber likely carried a cell phone, even if he did not use it during the robberies; and that comparing the numbers from cellular-tower records could reveal his true identity. Furthermore, the search warrants were constrained both geographically and temporally.
Court Description: [Stras, Author, with Shepherd and Kobes, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The applications for search warrants for cell tower data explained why there was a fair probability that search of the data would identify the robber of several stores and therefore established probable cause to issue the warrants; the search warrants satisfied the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirement because the warrants were constrained both geographically and temporally to the robberies under investigation.
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