CO: Cell phone SW for indicia of ownership did not permit search of every folder in the phone

A cell phone search warrant for indicia of ownership did not permit search of every folder in the phone; that would be a general warrant. People v. Herrera, 2015 CO 60, 2015 Colo. LEXIS 1011 (Oct. 26, 2015). Syllabus by the court:

The supreme court holds that neither the warrant permitting the police to search defendant Matthew Herrera’s cellphone for indicia of ownership nor the plain view exception to the warrant requirement authorized the police to seize evidence of text messages between Herrera and a juvenile girl named Faith W. The warrant did not permit the police to search every folder in the phone for indicia of ownership because if it did, it would qualify as a general warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement. Furthermore, while the warrant authorizing a search for text messages between Herrera and “Stazi,” the name used by an officer posing as a juvenile girl, rendered the police’s initial intrusion into the text messaging application legitimate, and the incriminating nature of the particular folder they searched was immediately apparent under the circumstances, the third requirement of the plain view doctrine—that the police have lawful access to that folder’s contents—was not met because there was no objective basis for the police to believe that it would contain messages from “Stazi.” Accordingly, this court affirms the trial court’s suppression of the evidence seized from the folder.

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