In an unpublished order which is non-precedential, the Third Circuit decided a defendant did not have standing to raise a Carpenter claim.
The defendant here was convicted of conspiracy to transport stolen goods and multiple counts of transporting stolen property. The defense made a motion to suppress evidence of data for two cell phones. One phone belonged to a different person and the other was a “burner phone” attributed to the defendant.
The Third Circuit held that the defendant did not establish that he personally had a legitimate expectation of privacy in either cell phone and he did not claim that he ever owned, possessed, used, or had any privacy interest whatsoever in either phone. The Third Circuit held that the Government’s attribution of the burner phone to him is not evidence of his standing to make a claim because he must demonstrate his “expectation of privacy” in the phones. The Third Circuit decided that the defendant had not standing to assert suppression of the data obtained relating to the phones.
The case is United States v. Gatson, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 22170, 2018 WL 3773662, (3rd Cir. Unpubl.) (August 9)