top of page
Injury/Accident

Photos taken from Defendants’ Phone suppressed; new trial granted...


As strange as it may seem to some, people like to take photographs on their phone of illegal activity. Here, the Defendant had allegedly taken photographs on his phone of a pistol resembling a pistol recovered in the case. “This evidence demonstrated that the ‘decision to seek the warrant was prompted by what [the police] had seen during the initial entry’ (Murray v. United States, 487 US 533, 542 [1988]). Rather than applying for a warrant on the basis of mere probable cause, the officer ‘achieve[d] certain cause by conducting an unlawful confirmatory search,’ which ‘undermines the very purpose of the warrant requirement and cannot be tolerated’ (People v. Burr, 70 NY2d 354, 362 [1987] [internal citation and quotation marks omitted], cert denied 485 US 989 [1988]). The Court did not refuse to suppress this evidence on any other ground or exception. Further, the Court refused to find harmless error because “The People not only presented the photos to the jury but also called two witnesses who testified extensively that the pistol shown in the photos was the same firearm recovered by the police. The prosecutor also emphatically relied on the photos in summation.”

Held: “The court should have granted defendant's motion to suppress photographs obtained from his cell phone. After the police arrested defendant and seized his phone, an officer looked through it without a warrant, and found two photos stored on the phone that depicted a pistol resembling the pistol recovered in this case. It was not disputed that the search of defendant's cell phone was unlawful. Moreover, a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court holds that a cell phone is not a proper subject of a warrantless search incident to arrest (Riley v. California, 573 US __, 134 S Ct 2473 [2014]).”

The case is The People v. Marinez, 3772/11, NYLJ 1202672435984, at *1 (App. Div., 1st, Decided October 2, 2014).

 
Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square

FOLLOW US:

  • Instagram Social Icon
  • Facebook Social Icon
  • Google+ Black Square
  • Twitter Clean
  • LinkedIn Basic Black


Attorney Advertising. This website is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.

This web site is designed to provide general information only and to help in the choice of appropriate legal counsel. The information contained herein should not be construed as legal advice. Legal jurisdictions differ on major and minor aspects of the law and each legal situation is unique; requiring that all legal situations be addressed with qualified legal counsel. Statutes and case law frequently change; the accuracy of this information can only be represented as of the date of publication.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Submitting or receiving information web does not create an attorney client relationship. No attorney client relationship will exist unless you meet with one of our attorneys and sign a retainer agreement. Please do not submit any information that is case specific, personal or confidential. 

RSS Feed
  • LinkedIn App Icon
  • Blogger App Icon
  • Wix Twitter page
  • RSS Social Icon
NADC_logo_200.png
NYSDAL.jpg
bottom of page