Because your cell phone is such a pervasive and insistent part of your daily life the United States Supreme Court in Riley v. California ruled that, absent an emergency, the police must have a warrant before searching one. The Court decided that because the cell phone of today has such immense storage capacity that searching through it would reveal more details of your personal life than searching your entire home.
For example, your phone isn’t just a phone – it’s your camera, video player, calendar, personal diary, briefcase, and library. It connects you to the proverbial cloud where you can share personal files between friends, family and co-workers. Your phone is full of private and confidential conversations with all sorts of people. For some, simply losing their cell phone would be devastating and could cause irreparable harm.
Now imagine a stranger looking through all the pages and files and apps of your cell phone just trying to find some hint of unsavory activity? Not a pretty picture and this is why our Supreme Court unanimously ruled that people have a Fourth Amendment right to privacy – and all the protections that come with it – in their cell phones!
How is this new digital fourth amendment rule going to affect police officers and drug charges? The police are going to have to work harder!
Prior to this new ruling that requires a search warrant before the police can rifle through a suspects cell phone a typical drug case would progress as follows:
-The police encounter a suspect
-The suspect has some amount of illegal drugs on their person
-The police place the suspect under arrest for possession of a controlled substance
-Since an arrest has been made, the police would then search the suspect’s cell phone
-The police would inevitable find text messages that they would construe as “people trying to buy drugs”
-The next thing you know you are now slapped with intent to distribute charges
This progression in an arrest where drugs are found has been rampant and unavoidable. The police didn’t have to do much of an investigation and everyone knows that a text simply saying “yes, I’ll meet you in 10” doesn’t always mean “yes, I’ll meet you in 10 to buy those drugs from you!”
With the new law in place, police have to get a search warrant before they go through your phone. And not only do they simple get a warrant, they have to have some sort of reason to believe that evidence of drug dealing is on your phone. Is the simple possession of drugs enough of a reason to believe you may be selling it? I guess only time will tell, but at least for now the police no longer have free reign and that’s a good start.
If you have been charged with a drug crime in the Oakland, Wayne or Macomb County communities of Royal Oak, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Warren, Troy or any surrounding area and want the best legal representation, call The Law Office of Barton Morris at (248) 541-2600. Our attorneys are specifically trained and knowledgeable in defending all forms of drug charges.
