Two on pre-Jones GPS and good faith

Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging GPS in 2007. The state passed its own GPS statute in 2002, and defendant argued it wasn’t complied with when a GPS was placed on his car after an armored car robbery he was suspected of participating in. Constitutionally, the question was unsettled because it was five years before Jones. Moreover, the proof of guilt was overwhelming, so it sure was harmless error if error at all. Thus, defendant can’t show prejudice. [Davis good faith doesn’t even get mentioned.] Frierson v. State, 2016 S.C. App. LEXIS 73 (June 29, 2016).

Use of a GPS tracker did not require a warrant prior to Jones. There was no case in this circuit and five others held that no warrant was required. Yes, GPS is a “far cry” from Knotts’s beeper, but that’s not the point because that’s what most courts were doing with GPS until Jones. Davis good faith applies. United States v. Mitchell, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12179 (10th Cir. June 30, 2016).*