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Placing portable GPS device under defendant's car to monitor his movements violated no expectation of privacy

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Placing a GPS device under defendant's car to trace its movements to connect him to a burglary did not violate his expectation of privacy. The N.Y. Constitution affords no additional rights in this regard. People v. Weaver, 2008 NY Slip Op 4960, 2008 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4811 (3d Dept. June 5, 2008): In addressing this issue, we are guided by the well-settled principle that "where there is no legitimate expectation of privacy, there is no search or seizure" under the Fourth Amendment (United States v Moran, 349 F Supp 2d 425, 467 [2005]). As the federal courts have observed, a defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy in the publicly accessible exterior of his or her vehicle, and the undercarriage is part of the vehicle's exterior (see New York v Class, 475 U...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 07, 2008 (boomark / email).