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THE WARRANT REQUIRED THE SEIZED CELL PHONE BE “RETURNED TO THE COURT;” INSTEAD THE CELL PHONE WAS TURNED OVER TO A CYBERSECURITY CENTER WHICH CONDUCTED A FORENSIC EXAMINATION AND MEMORY EXTRACTION; DEFENSE COUNSEL’S FAILURE TO MOVE TO SUPPRESS THE INFORMATION GLEANED FROM THE CELL PHONE CONSTITUTED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE; MANSLAUGHTER CONVICTION VACATED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department determined defendant’s motion to vacate her manslaughter conviction on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel should have been granted. The search of defendant’s cell phone far exceeded the scope of the warrant. The warrant required that the seized cell phone be “returned to the court.” Instead the phone was turned over to a cybersecurity and forensics center where a forensic examination and memory extraction was conducted. A considerable amount of trial evidence was gleaned from the cell phone. Defense counsel did not move to suppress the cell-phone evidence:

We agree with defendant that she was denied effective assistance of counsel inasmuch as defense counsel failed to properly move to suppress the evidence obtained from her cell phone. “[I]ndiscriminate searches pursuant to general warrants ‘were the immediate evils that motivated the framing and adoption of the Fourth Amendment’ ” … . A person’s cell phone now contains at least as much personal and private information as their home and, thus, indiscriminate searches of cell phones cannot be permitted … . As defendant correctly contends, the forensic examination and memory extraction of her cell phone’s contents exceeded the scope of the warrant, which only authorized OCSO to seize the cell phone and return it to the court … . Furthermore, the warrant failed to meet the particularity requirement inasmuch as it, inter alia, did not “specify the items to be seized by their relation to designated crimes” … . Thus, we conclude that defendant “established that a motion to suppress would likely be successful, and that defense counsel had no strategic or other legitimate explanation for not moving to suppress the evidence” … . People v Conley, 2025 NY Slip Op 00597, Fourth Dept 1-31-25

Practice Point: The Fourth Department noted that the search of a cell phone can reveal as much information as the search of a home. To be valid, a cell -phone search must be confined to the terms of the warrant, and the warrant must specify the items to be seized by their relation to the crimes.

 

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