When Officers Search Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant

Cell phones are appearing more and more often in court cases. Since almost everyone from great-grandma down to the kids have cell phones, this is not surprising. The current law in California is that a cell phone is to be treated like any other closed container in a search.

What does that mean? It's complicated.

Searches without a warrant most often happen at a time when someone is being detained or arrested. If an officer stops someone in his or her car for a possible DUI, for example, the vehicle is generally searched "incident to arrest". That means when you are arrested, the police can search the area immediately around you when they make the arrest. If you are driving that area is your vehicle.

Recent cases have treated cell phone searches the same as a search of a backpack or a glovebox in the car, or a purse. In fact, last year, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have required police to get a search warrant before going through a suspect’s cell phone at the time of arrest.

Officers go into the cell phone and often find a treasure trove of incriminating information in a person's texts. Texts that relate to drug sales, texts or photos with gang slogans, and texts telling your significant other that you are so angry that you will kill him/her are pretty obvious examples of items on cell phones that can get a DUI driver into a lot more trouble than the beers consumed at the bar.

Cell phones also appear often in domestic violence cases. An obvious example is texts or calls to a spouse's phone when that spouse has a restraining order against the arrestee. Often though, a cell phone can actually lead to a domestic dispute.

A boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife who suspects his or her partner is cheating may grab for the phone in an argument. The fight over trying to find out who the other person has been texting or friending can easily become physical where both are trying to grab or guard the phone. And when emotions are high, it’s more likely someone will call 911. Cell phones have landed LOTS of people in jail in the last 5 years!

If you or someone you know have been accused of a crime, arrested, or contacted by police, contact San Jose criminal defense attorney Maureen Baldwin at (408) 279-4450 to learn your options today!