The posture of this case is the Defendant’s Motion for a New Trial and his separate Motion for an Acquittal. The defendants here were tired and convicted on counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, two counts of armed robbery, and using and carrying firearms in relation to a crime of violence.
One defendant argued that he was entitled to a new trial cell-site location information from his cellphone was acquired in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The Court immediately looked to the good faith exception to deny relief. Citing United States v. Joyner (see September 10 blog post), the Court noted that the state of the law at the time of the search in the 11th Circuit was that the warrantless acquisition is admissible, citing United States v. Davis. United States v. Davis, 785 F.3d 498, 518 (11th Cir. 2015) (en banc).
The case is United States v. Natson, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179392, Southern District of Georgia, October 18, 2018.