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D.Neb.: Search incident of cell phone in arrest on a warrant was unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The search incident of defendant’s cell phone when he was arrested on a warrant was unreasonable because there was no reason to believe that it was a weapon or that it contained evidence of the crime for which he was arrested. United States v. McGhee, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129576 (D. Neb. June 19, 2009): In today's world, cell phones may contain a vast array of information which would be expected to be free from intrusion by the general public and the government. United States v. Finley, 477 F. 3d 250, 259 (5th Cir. 2007). As such, McGhee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of his cell phone. Consequently, the Fourth Amendment required law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant to search the cell phone unless a recognized exception to the warrant requirement existed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 22, 2010 (boomark / email).