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MA: SW needed to track GPS under state constitution

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Massachusetts had already held that a search warrant was required for installation of a GPS tracking device on defendant’s minivan. Commonwealth v. Balicki, 436 Mass. 1, 8 (2002). It now holds that a warrant was required to track the vehicle after installation. Commonwealth v. Connolly, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 642 (September 17, 2009): We conclude that a warrant was required here because the initial installation of the particular device clearly constituted a seizure under art. 14. The installation required not only entry by the police into the minivan for an hour, but also operation of the vehicle's electrical system, in order to attach the device to the vehicle's power source and to verify that it was operating properly. Moreover, operation of the device required power from the defendant's vehicle, an ongoing physical intrusion...continue to full post

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