Cell Phone Search Incident to a Lawful Arrest
On December 5, 2012, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts issued a decision concerning the ability of police to search the contents of a cell phone pursuant to a valid exception to the warrant requirement. In deciding the search of the cell phone was valid, the Court in Commonwealth v. Phifer, limited their decision to the facts of this particular case and specifically refused to entertain this issue in further detail.
In this particular case, the Boston Police Department, observed what they believed to be a street level drug transaction which implicated the back and forth use of cell phones. When the defendant was arrested, the police effected a valid arrest and seizure of the cell phone in question. The issue left open for determination was whether the Boston Police Department was merited in searching the “recent call log” pursuant to a valid exception to the warrant requirement; search incident to a lawful arrest. Specifically, once the phone was validly seized, the Supreme Judicial determined that the recent call list was within the scope of a valid “search incident to a lawful arrest” because the officers had probable cause to believe the telephone’s recent call list would contain evidence relating to the crime for which the Defendant was arrested.
In this decision the Supreme Court specifically declined to opine further as to ability of police to search without a warrant a cell phone under a different factual scenario. For future, the Supreme Court suggested an investigation into the particular facts of any particular scenario citing a balancing test to determine the scope, manner, location and justification for the intrusiveness prior to substantiating the search as incident to a lawful arrest.
If you are facing criminal charges stemming from drug charges, larceny, OUI or any other criminal offense and wish to speak with an experienced trial attorney, please call Attorney Kristen F. Bonavita for a free consultation. Contact Criminal Lawyer Kristen F. Bonavita at her Newburyport, MA location – (978) 376-6746.