MA: Home confinement and GPS monitoring as a condition of release pending sentencing was reasonable

Home confinement after conviction but pending a motion for new trial was not an unreasonable seizure. It was discretionary on conviction. GPS monitoring as well was a search under Grady, but, on a balancing of interests, it was reasonable on the facts here. Garcia v. Commonwealth, 2020 Mass. LEXIS 777 (Dec. 3, 2020):

iii. Balancing. Because “GPS monitoring is not a minimally invasive search,” its imposition must be supported by reasons that are particularized to the defendant. See Feliz, 481 Mass. at 691. If the legitimate, particularized governmental interests advanced by GPS monitoring do not outweigh the level of intrusion, the search violates art. 14. See Moore, 473 Mass. at 484, citing Commonwealth v. Rodriguez, 472 Mass. 767, 776, 37 N.E.3d 611 (2015).

The defendant contends that the reasons supporting imposition of the conditions would be applicable to anyone seeking a stay of execution of a sentence, and therefore were not particularized to the defendant. The reasons justifying a search, however, need not be entirely unique to an individual defendant. Rather, the reasons must be based on the defendant’s specific situation, which well may bear similarity to those of other defendants. The defendant’s convictions in this case, her history of recidivism while released, and the length of time remaining on her prison sentence all are particularized reasons. These reasons, especially the seriousness of the crime and the repeated nature of her offenses, provided the government with weighty, legitimate interests in monitoring her location. Thus, because her privacy interests were diminished by her conviction and pending sentence, we conclude that the legitimate governmental interests advanced by monitoring outweighed the significant level of intrusion. See Kills Enemy, 3 F.3d at 1203 (“search condition … g[ave] society the extra measure of protection necessary when releasing a convicted drug merchant pending sentencing”).