Aguiar v. Drug Enforcement Administration, No. 18-5356 (D.C. Cir. 2021)
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Appellant, who was convicted in 2011 of federal narcotics charges based partly on GPS surveillance conducted by DEA, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to DEA for a CD "containing the DEA computer file of all tracking information collected via GPS devices attached to [his] vehicles with all images and proprietary software associated with that information from January 23, 2009 thr[ough] July 30, 2009, the very same file used by DEA to prepare exhibits for trial." DEA produced 351 spreadsheet pages listing latitude and longitude coordinate data generated by the tracking device. Appellant found the data unusable without access to the internet or topographical maps.
The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to DEA, concluding that because DEA does not possess the GPS mapping software or any related map images and never created or retained the map images introduced at appellant's trial, FOIA does not obligate DEA now to create such map images in the first instance. The court also affirmed the district court's denial of appellant's motion for leave to file a supplemental complaint where appellant failed to establish that the district court abused its discretion.
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