The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division has denied a motion to suppress based on cell site location information. This case involves Detroit gang violence and multiple shootings leading to federal charges. The Government obtained cell site location information (CSLI)
In this case, the Court decided the Government acted in good faith based on binding 6th Circuit precedent, which interestingly enough is the 6th Circuit Carpenter decision. In doing so, the Court looked to cases previously reviewed on this blog, including United States v. Joyner, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 22513, 2018 WL 3853443 (11th Cir. Aug. 14, 2018); United States v. Chavez, 894 F.3d 593, 608 (4th Cir. 2018); United States v. Williams, No. 17-CR-20758-VAR-DRG, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129639, 2018 WL 3659585 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 2, 2018).
The Court also rejected the argument that the evidence the Government submitted did not meet the standards of the Stored Communications Act. The Court found based on the evidence that there was specific and articulable facts showing that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the CSLI records sought were relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation (Citing Pembrook, 876 F.3d at 823-24).
The case is United States v. Woods, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146030, 2018 WL 4095037 (E.D. Mich.) (August 28).