In this appeal from a bank robbery conviction, the 9th Circuit affirmed the District Court’s denial of a motion to suppress in large part due to his status as a parolee who consented to warrantless, suspicionless searches of his person, residence, and any property under his control. Using this condition, officers placed a GPS device on his car and later searched its trunk. Officers also obtained historical cell site location information (CSLI) through a Stored Communications Act order.
After citing case law and deciding that the United States Supreme Court GPS decision of Jones did not prevent parolees from having these devices placed on their vehicles without a warrant, the Court then turned its attention to the pre-Carpenter warrantless acquisition of the CSLI.
The Ninth Circuit, despite the fact that there was no binding precedent in the Circuit at the time of this search, invoked the good faith exception, citing Illinois v. Krull, 480 U.S. 340, 342, 350, 107 S. Ct. 1160, 94 L. Ed. 2d 364 (1987) and relying on the fact that other Circuits had ruled in favor of the Government, citing United States v. Gilton, No. 16-10109, 917 F.3d 1068, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 6507, 22 (9th Cir. Mar. 4, 2019).
The case is United States v. Korte, 918 F.3d 750, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 7672, 2019 WL 1216207 9th Cir., March 15, 2019