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CA4: Cellphone's storage capacity not relevant to a search incident

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Whether a cellphone has a "volatile" phone number storage capacity for search incident is an unworkable standard because there is no way an officer would know. United States v. Murphy, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 677 (4th Cir. January 15, 2009): Murphy argues that whether a cell phone may be searched without a warrant can be determined only upon the officers ascertaining the cell phone's storage capacity. In so arguing, he concedes that a device with a small storage capacity may be searched without a warrant due to the volatile nature of the information stored, but that a search of a cell phone with a larger storage capacity would implicate a heightened expectation of privacy and thus would require a warrant to be issued before a search could be conducted...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 19, 2009 (boomark / email).