United States v. Jones

132 S.Ct 945 (2012)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Antoine Jones (D), came under suspicion of trafficking in narcotics and was made the target of an investigation. Officers used visual surveillance, installation of a camera focused on the front door of a nightclub, and a pen register and wiretap covering D's cellular phone. P applied to the United States District Court for a warrant authorizing the use of an electronic tracking device on the Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to D's wife. A warrant issued, authorizing installation of the device in the District of Columbia and within 10 days. On the 11th day, and not in the District of Columbia, agents installed a GPS tracking device on the undercarriage of the Jeep while it was parked in a public parking lot. P used the device to track the vehicle's movements, and once had to replace the device's battery when the vehicle was parked in a different public lot in Maryland. The device established the vehicle's location within 50 to 100 feet and communicated that location by cellular phone to a Government computer. It relayed more than 2,000 pages of data over the 4-week period. D filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained through the GPS device. The District Court granted the motion only in part, suppressing the data obtained while the vehicle was parked in the garage adjoining D's residence. Eventually, a jury returned a guilty verdict, and the District Court sentenced D to life imprisonment. The Court of Appeals reversed the conviction because of admission of the evidence obtained by warrantless use of the GPS device which, it said, violated the Fourth Amendment.