KELLY v. STATE

WESLEY TORRANCE KELLY v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court of Appeals, Barbera, Filed Dec. 23, 2013,
Good Faith- GPS- Where police relied in good faith on Supreme Court precedent and installed a GPS tracking device on a vehicle without a warrant, the exclusionary rule does not require suppression even though that precedent was later overturned and even though there was no direct Maryland appellate case

Good Faith- Searches conducted in objectively reasonable reliance on binding appellate precedent are not subject to the exclusionary rule
Good Faith- The “precedent exception” requires that the police practice at issue be specifically authorized by the jurisdiction’s precedent (including Supreme Court holdings)
Good Faith- The “precedent exception” does not require that a prior appellate opinion be directly on point

* The State conceded the 4th Amendment violation, so the CoA never addressed the question left open in Jones: whether a search warrant is required to place a GPS tracker on a vehicle. Jones held that the placement of the tracker was a search, but because the government in that case did not argue that it was a permissible search nonetheless, the USSC considered the “argument forfeited.”

Also, not an awe-inspiring police acronym: Repeat Offender Proactive Enforcement (“ROPE”) Section

Leave a Reply