Sputnik: Federal authorities have dropped their appeal of a ruling in Washington State against a police department that nailed a webcam to a utility pole to spy on a suspect’s house 24 hours a day, for weeks on end

Sputnik: Federal authorities have dropped their appeal of a ruling in Washington State against a police department that nailed a webcam to a utility pole to spy on a suspect’s house 24 hours a day, for weeks on end [Remember, Washington state law is more expansive than the Fourth Amendment.]

A lower court had ruled in December that the method by which the department tried to collect evidence against a suspected drug dealer in Kennewick was illegal.

The Justice Department had appealed that decision, but withdrew that appeal on Tuesday, without commenting on why they had decided to drop the case.

The camera posted across from the suspect’s house was connected remotely to an officer’s computer and recorded surveillance footage all day for six weeks.

The government had previously contended that they didn’t need a warrant for the camera since it had the same perspective as a person on the street, out in the public, just the same as if an officer had been sitting there making observations.

The judge in that case didn’t buy the government’s argument, citing the Fourth Amendment to insist that the officers needed a warrant in order to carry out surveillance on Leonel Vargas’ home.

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