United States v. Jones
Issues before the Court
Is attaching a GPS tracker to a motor vehicle, and subsequently employing it for tracking its movement on public roads, counted as a search-and-seizure operation under Amendment IV? (United States v. Jones | Case Brief Summary)
Facts of the Case
Nightclub owner and manager Jones, the defendant in the case, was suspected of trafficking narcotic drugs. From information collected using a number of investigation methods, law enforcement officials were able to procure a warrant which authorized attaching a GPS tracker to Jones' wife's Jeep (which was never driven by anyone but Jones). However, the law enforcers didn't adhere to the deadline stipulated in the warrant and attached the tracker after the deadline lapsed, employing it for tracking the Jeep's movements (United States v. Jones | Case Brief Summary). The satellite-guided tracker established the Jeep's whereabouts within 50-100 feet, conveying it to a governmental computer via cell phone and transmitting over two thousand pages of information in four weeks. Eventually, the government was able to obtain a charge against Jones including cocaine supply conspiracy charges. Jones made a pre-trial move to suppress evidential data, which was partially suppressed by the trial court; that is, only information procured when the Jeep remained parked at the Jones's garage at home was suppressed at trial. The first trial ended in a deadlocked jury, but the subsequent trial lead to a conviction. The District of Columbia Circuit Court (appellate court) reversed the sentence, claiming that Jones's Amendment IV rights were violated by allowing evidence procured from...
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