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from the turning-tide-stranding-stingrays dept.
A group of defense attorneys, including a public defender, will review over 1,900 cases in which Stingray cellphone tracking technology was used secretly. They plan to ask judges to throw out "a large number" of criminal convictions based on Stingray evidence. From USA Today:
Defense lawyers in Baltimore are examining nearly 2,000 cases in which the police secretly used powerful cellphone tracking devices, and they plan to ask judges to throw out "a large number" of criminal convictions as a result. "This is a crisis, and to me it needs to be addressed very quickly," said Baltimore's deputy public defender, Natalie Finegar, who is coordinating those challenges. "No stone is going to be left unturned at this point."
The move follows a USA TODAY investigation this week that revealed that Baltimore police have used cellphone trackers, commonly known as stingrays, to investigate crimes as minor as harassing phone calls, then concealed the surveillance from suspects and their lawyers. Maryland law generally requires that electronic surveillance be disclosed in court.
Finegar and others said they do not know how many criminal cases they ultimately will seek to reopen because of the secret phone tracking, but she expects it to be "a large number." The public defender's office is reviewing a surveillance log published by USA TODAY that lists more than 1,900 cases in which the police indicated they had used a stingray. It includes at least 200 public defender clients who were ultimately convicted of a crime.
Stingrays are suitcase-sized devices that allow the police to pinpoint a cellphone's location to within a few yards by posing as a cell tower. In the process, they also can intercept information from the phones of nearly everyone else who happens to be nearby.
[...] "This has really opened the floodgates," Baltimore defense lawyer Josh Insley said. He said he could start filing challenges to some of his clients' convictions by next week.
A spokeswoman for Baltimore's State's Attorney, Tammy Brown, said prosecutors will evaluate each challenge on its own merits. She agreed that prosecutors are required to tell defendants when the police use a stingray, but "we need to get that information first."
Overturning a criminal conviction is no small task. Before they can even ask judges to take that step, defense lawyers have to comb through the surveillance log to figure out which of their clients were targets of the phone tracking, then contact them in prison. "It's probably going to be a long process," ACLU attorney Nathan Wessler said. "But now at least you have defense lawyers who know what happened to their clients and can invoke the power of the courts to make sure that the Constitution was complied with."
Via The Register.
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TrumpetPower! on Saturday August 29 2015, @08:01PM
If they have nothing to hide, why won't they disclose their use of Stingray?
Considering that this is a blatant violation of the rules of evidence and criminal prosecution, I can only conclude that they're hiding some really nasty fucked-up sins by keeping their use of Stingray from us.
There are three necessary elements to a proper response.
First, all cases in which Stingray was used but the fact was not disclosed to the defense in the appropriate manner must be overturned and dismissed with prejudice and without further consideration. Yes, even for the worst-of-the-worst cases.
Second, all police who failed to inform the prosecutors of Stingray activity should be fired for gross incompetence; and all prosecutors who failed to comply with the rules of evidence should be disbarred.
Last, there should be a sweeping criminal investigation that should have a special eye towards the real reason the police have been conspiring to hide these illegal and unethical activities.
...of course, it's not like anything even remotely close to anything like this is going to happen. And people wonder why trust in the police is at an all-time low?
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @08:33PM
Because they got them from 3-letter agencies and have an NDA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @08:50PM
> If they have nothing to hide, why won't they disclose their use of Stingray?
Because they don't want to. I'm sure they have used it for evil -- but they don't think it was evil. Ergo they aren't concerned about covering it up. Like every human ever they just really like to to avoid accountability. Life is so much easier when you don't have to answer to anyone else. The fact that being public servants makes them inherently accountable doesn't stop them from being humans who would rather not to be accountable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @08:58PM
Police seize drugs and sell drugs. An alternative revenue stream.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @09:22PM
Police seize drugs and use drugs. An alternative recreation stream?