State v. Ragin

Syllabus

Convicted of murder and criminal possession of a pistol in connection with the shooting death of the victim, the defendant appealed to this court. After learning that the defendant may have been involved in the victim's murder, the police served a search warrant on T Co., the defendant's cell phone ser- vice provider, seeking information relating to the defendant's cell phone, including call-identifying information and cell site location information for the two and one-half week period immediately following the murder. Because T Co. generated its records using Coordinated Universal Time, rather than Eastern Daylight Time, as its time standard, it produced data that corresponded not only to the two and one-half week period requested but also to the four hour period immediately preceding the approximate time of the murder. Prior to trial, the defendant moved to suppress the cell phone records, claiming that the search warrant lacked probable cause and particularity, was overbroad, and that the additional four hours of data that T Co. voluntarily produced was outside the scope of the warrant. The trial court denied the motion, and, at trial, the state relied on the defendant's cell phone records, as well as witness testimony, to place the defendant in the area of the shooting. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that the trial court had improperly denied his motion to suppress his cell phone records because the search warrant lacked the probable cause and sufficient particularity necessary to comport with the federal and state constitutions and that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his call-identifying and cell site location information. Held: The trial court properly denied the defendant's motion to suppress his cell phone records. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the warrant lacked prob- able cause for cell phone records spanning the two and one-half week period following the murder, as the facts in the warrant affidavit, toget