In Part One of my previous post on this subject, I discussed the Supreme Judicial Court’s recent ruling upholding the validity of a search warrant issued for the defendant’s computer, when the warrant was issued seven months previous to the computer’s seizure. That case is Commonwealth vs. Guastucci, SJC-12829, and…
Search warrants have traditionally been the focal point of many an appellate court’s decisions in the area of criminal law. This area of law is governed by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and here in Massachusetts by Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declarations of Rights, and is extremely…
In a breakthrough ruling for police and prosecutors, the state’s highest court has ruled that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights (embodied in the state Constitution,) permits police to secretly break into a suspect’s car for the purpose of covertly installing a GPS tracking device. Not only is the ruling a…