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posted by CoolHand on Friday May 01 2015, @08:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the how-you-like-it-now dept.

Ars Technica reports about a case in Missouri that may have been dropped to law enforcement's use of Stingray:

A woman accused of being a getaway driver in a series of robberies in St. Louis has changed her plea from guilty to not guilty after finding out that a stingray was used in her case.

Wilqueda Lillard was originally set to testify against her three other co-defendants, whose charges were also dropped earlier this month. As a result of changing her plea, the local prosecutor dropped the charges against her on Monday.

Terence Niehoff, Lillard’s attorney, explained to Ars that she pleaded guilty before learning about the use of the stingray. When her co-defendants’ attorneys challenged a police detective during a deposition, and that officer refused to provide further information, the case was eventually dropped.

However, Lauren Trager, the spokeswoman for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office denied to Ars that the dropping was related:

I am unable to provide the information you requested. Despite the opinion of the defense attorney in this matter, the dismissal of the cases was not related in any way to any technology used in the investigation."

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday May 02 2015, @12:05AM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday May 02 2015, @12:05AM (#177685) Journal

    A defense lawyers first question to any law enforcement witness should be to ask if any evidence was collected by secret means which they are not at liberty to divulge. If Yes, move for dismissal. If no, continue to question the source of any information, and the possibility of parallel construction based on evidence obtained by secret means.

    There are cases where under-cover officers and some confidential informants need to testify to a courtroom cleared of audiance/visitors, but these are rare, and always suspect.

    The way to stop the use of this type of spy equipment is to make it useless in court.

    The other thing to do is raise awareness of this such that police departments just get rid of them, or never buy them in the first place. Public outcry forced the Seattle PD to divest themselves of drones. The sent them to LAPD. [vice.com]

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