U.S. v. Curtis

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Search and Seizure
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 17-1833
Decision Date: 
August 24, 2018
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

 

In prosecution on robbery and firearm-related charges, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress police collection of cell-site location information (CSLI) that placed defendant in vicinity of four charged robberies, even though defendant argued that collection of said data over 314-day period, although in compliance with procedures set forth in Stored Communications Act (SCA), violated 4th Amendment because said collection was without warrant, and because he had reasonable expectation of privacy in said CSLI data. While Ct. in Carpenter, 138 S.Ct. 2206 subsequently found that individual in defendant’s circumstances had legitimate expectation of privacy in records of his physical movements disclosed by CSLI data, Ct. of Appeals found that said CSLI evidence need not be excluded, where it was obtained in good-faith reliance on SCA. Also, Dist. Ct. did not commit reversible error in precluding defendant from asking govt. witnesses about whether defendant had accused police of unjustifiably shooting defendant’s cousin during confrontation following first robbery. Defendant was able to effectively bring out each witness’s motivation for testifying on behalf of govt., and defendant was able to put before jury cousin’s death and defendant’s threatened complaint against police despite Dist. Ct.'s adverse ruling.