N.D.Cal.: Subpoena for phone records not shown to be from independent source

Defendant’s motion in limine against AT&T records is granted. The government failed to show an independent source that it knew of information sought before an illegal search. “The government did not shown that the decision to subpoena the records was unrelated to the illegal search. For instance, the government failed to explain why it waited over five months before subpoenaing the telephone records when the government had defendant’s telephone numbers since July 7, 2017. Because the government has not met its burden in establishing that defendant’s AT&T records were derived independent of the information found during the SMPD conduct, the Court finds that the independent source doctrine does not apply to these records.” United States v. Maffei, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177683 (N.D.Cal. Sept. 17, 2021).

“The totality of the facts and circumstances show that Defendant clearly and unequivocally abandoned both the backpack and the firearm for Fourth Amendment purposes. … Here, Defendant discarded his backpack on a staircase after fleeing from law enforcement officers, and then discarded the firearm in an apartment where he did not live as the officers continued to pursue him. It is well established that property is abandoned when a defendant discards it while fleeing from police.” United States v. Simmonds, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177406 (D.V.I. Sept. 17, 2021).*