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E.D.Tenn.: SI of text messages on cell phone was valid, relying in 1969 case

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Looking at defendant’s cell phone text messages was permitted by the search incident doctrine. United States v. Grooms, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10824 (E.D. Tenn. January 3, 2011): The United States acknowledged that a search incident to an arrest must be "substantially contemporaneous" with the arrest and confined to the immediate vicinity of the arrest, citing Shipley v. California, 395 U.S. 818, 819, 89 S. Ct. 2053, 23 L. Ed. 2d 732 (1969). But the United States also argues that "contemporaneous" is not synonymous with "simultaneous." At least under the circumstances described in this case, the court agrees. No less than the United States Supreme Court has held that a search and seizure that could have been made on the spot at the time of the defendant's arrest may legally be conducted later when the defendant arrives at the detention facility, United States v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 08, 2011 (boomark / email).