D.D.C.: SW not necessary for abandoned phone

In the application for search warrant for this cell phone, the phone appears to be abandoned. If so, the government doesn’t need a search warrant to search it. Application denied as moot. In re Application of United States for a Search Warrant for a Black Kyocera Corp Model C5170 Cellular Telephone with FCC ID: V65V5170, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36906 (D.D.C. March 7, 2014). [At least the feds in DC are cautious enough to seek a search warrant in cell phone seizures. The locals aren’t hardly anywhere. They haven’t gotten word that Wurie and Riley were even coming. I’ve even had a case where the locals detained a person, seized the phone, dumped its contents, handed it back, and then released the person.]

There was a fact dispute whether defendant was told that the officers would get a warrant if she did not consent, but she was also told that she could refuse consent. On the totality, the consent was voluntary. United States v. Olson, 2014 CCA LEXIS 175 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. March 18, 2014).*

The affidavit for the search warrant here was clearly not “bare bones.” Probable cause exists and good faith applied. United States v. Gayfield, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37049 (W.D. La. February 24, 2014),* adopted 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36980 (W.D. La. Mar. 18, 2014).*