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California Supreme Court Affirms Warrantless Search of Suspects Cell Phone Text Messages

PEOPLE v. DIAZ, Criminal Appeal, Start Date: 09/09/2008. Opinion issued – Petition for review after the Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment of conviction of a criminal offense. This case presents the following issues: (1) Was defendant’s cell phone an item “immediately associated with the person of the arrestee” within the meaning of United States v. Edwards (1974) 415 U.S. 800, and thus subject to search incident to his arrest? (2) Was the warrantless search of the cell phone an hour and a half after the arrest, while defendant was being interrogated, invalid under United States v. Chadwick (1977) 433 U.S. 1? The court ordered briefing deferred pending the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona v. Gant, No. 07-542, cert. granted Feb. 25, 2008, __ U.S. __ [128 S.Ct. 1443, 170 L.Ed.2d 274], or further order of this court.”

  • California Supreme Court opinion, The People v. Diaz, January 3, 2011: “We granted review in this case to decide whether the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution permits law enforcement officers, approximately 90 minutes after lawfully arresting a suspect and transporting him to a detention facility, to conduct a warrantless search of the text message folder of a cell phone they take from his person after the arrest. We hold that, under the United States Supreme Court’s binding precedent, such a search is valid as being incident to a lawful custodial arrest. We affirm the Court of Appeal’s judgment.”
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