Cell Phones Can Be Searched After Arrest, Justices Say

Delving into privacy concerns in the age of the smart phone, the California Supreme Court determined today that after police take a cell phone from a suspect during an arrest, they can search the phone's text messages without a warrant.

The majority in the 5-2 decision reasoned that U.S. Supreme Court precedents call for cell phones to be treated as personal property "immediately associated" with the suspect's person.

But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote that information stored on cell phones shouldn't be examined without a warrant and warned that the majority sanctioned searches that violate the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

In 2007, a Ventura County deputy sheriff arrested Gregory Diaz after watching an Ecstasy deal go down in the backseat of Diaz's car. About an hour and a half later, after Diaz denied knowing anything about the transaction, the deputy looked at Diaz's cell phone text message folder and found a text that seemed to set a price for six Ecstasy pills. When confronted with the message, Diaz admitted to participating in the drug sale.

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Source: law.com
By: Kate Moser