Cja 354 Week 1 Criminal Law Paper

Criminal Law Paper

Jordan Edwards

CJA/354

January 20, 2015

Richard Askew

Criminal Law Paper

On June 25, 2014, The U.S Supreme court held that in Riley V. California, police may not search for, and seize the digital contents of an individual’s cell phone or personal electronic device, incident to an arrest, without first obtaining a search warrant authorizing them to do so. The court however, made note to a possible exception to the warrant in an “emergency” or “exigent circumstances” exist. Situations such as evidence that is about to be destroyed, or a bomb that is about to go off can constitute officers to seize a cellphone without a warrant. This ruling came together when David Riley was arrested in 2009 for having an expired vehicle registration and driving on a suspended license. When the car was impounded, Authorities found loaded weapons under the hood. San Diego police than searched Riley’s phone where they found information that led them to believe Riley was connected to organized crime, and was linked to an earlier shooting prior to his arrest. Riley moved to suppress the evidence the officers obtained during the search of his cellphone, on the grounds that the searching of his cellphone without warrant, violated his fourth amendment rights. The trial court rejected this claim and held that the search was legitimate incident to arrest. David Riley was convicted in State court and received a 15 year sentence.

What Interests Me about the Case?

This case is interesting due to the fact that it involves an important fourth amendment privacy issue that impacts millions of Americans each year. Millions of Americans now own a cellular device, and the issue is whether cops can rightfully search a suspect’s cellphone without a warrant during an arrest. Within the case Riley V. California, prior to the case leading up to the Supreme Court, the lower courts ruled that officers may seize and search the contents of a suspect’s cellphone without obtaining a warrant...