Supreme Court ruling will require warrants for cell phone records

Records like GPS location based on nearby towers, calls, and texts are all kept on file by wireless companies. It’s that private information the Supreme Court ruled will now require a warrant from law enforcement officers to access.

“Cell phone data can be really useful in creating the case,” Criminal defense attorney Jeremy Loew said.

Loew said the data can be critical following a crime.

“To show that a suspect was at a certain location at a certain time when a crime may have occurred,” Loew said.

In Southern Colorado, three recent high profile murder cases involve that type of evidence.

Derek Greer and Natalie Partida were found shot dead near Old Pueblo Road in 2017. El Paso County deputies traced one of the main suspect’s cell phone records back to a tower near the site where the teens were murdered.

Last July, George Maldonado Sr. was killed in his auto shop. Prosecutors used cell phone records showing the suspects were near the shop the morning of the fatal robbery and the days leading up to it.

Plus, at a preliminary hearing last month for Donthe Lucas, who’s accused of killing Kelsie Schelling, prosecutors relied heavily on texts and cell phone locations to show where Schelling and Lucas were in the time leading up to her disappearance.

The Supreme Court ruling makes cell phones and the data it collects private. Meaning law enforcement has to have a warrant in order to search it. Which could impact any open cases using cell phone data.

“These cases could get thrown out of court if they haven’t already been resolved. Because anything they’ve used without a warrant is tainted,” Loew said.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 did reach out to Pueblo Police and the Pueblo District Attorney. A direct answer was not given as to if officers got a search warrant for the cell phone records or not.

Police did say they generally do get warrants for that type of information.