By: Terry Bennett

In today’s high tech world your present location can be tracked and your exact location pinpointed simply by the fact you carry a cell phone. The question becomes- can law enforcement track your cell phone location or is this a violation of your rights under the Constitution?

Americans may have a Florida drug dealer to thank for settling this issue and expanding our right to privacy.

In a recent Florida Supreme Court case, the defendant was caught transporting cocaine in his automobile. The officers involved were able to monitor the movements of the defendant and track his specific location by the cell site location information given off by his cell phone.

The Court stated that even if the police had a warrant as to the defendant’s cell phone, such warrant only allows the recovery of information regarding the numbers on the phones that the defendant had previously called and the information concerning calls received. The Court held that this warrant did not extend to tracking the defendant’s location in real time.

It further went on to say that the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy and that he had not given his service provider permission for others to track his location. The failure of the officers to seek a search warrant for the specific of using the location information was a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

 

Terry joined the practice in 1974. His areas of focus include personal injury law, real estate law, probate law, estate planning, business law, corporations, and adoptions. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, United States District Court Western District of Kentucky, United States Court of Military Appeals, and all Kentucky courts.

A Hardin County native and former Army office in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, Terry graduated from William and Mary in Virginia with an undergraduate degree in government. He received his Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest Law School in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where he graduated with honors.