MD: A search warrant for a car’s GPS system

A search warrant for a car’s GPS system: “Officers also executed a ‘Berla warrant’² to extract navigation data from the car’s GPS system. The navigation data showed that, on the morning of the shooting, the Maserati left Oak Haven Circle in Windsor Mill. The Maserati was at the intersection of West Mulberry and North Greene Streets at around 6:30 p.m. on the same day. The Maserati returned to Windsor Mill at 7:51 p.m.
“2. Berla manufactures a product that enables the police to ‘access the infotainment system of many newer vehicles.’ Adam M. Gershowitz, The Tesla Meets the Fourth Amendment, 48 BYU L. Rev. 1135, 1139 (2023). The device ‘enables the police to discover’ a car’s ‘navigation data.’ Id. ‘Berla products are not generally available to the public, and sales access is restricted to law enforcement, the military, civil and regulatory agencies, and select private investigation service providers.’ Jones v. Ford Motor Co., 85 F.4th 570, 573 (9th Cir. 2023) (unreported).” Brown v. State, 2025 Md. App. LEXIS 192 (Mar. 10, 2025). [Five years ago, I persuaded a prosecutor to get the GPS information from a rental car seized in a drug case to prove the passenger was just along for the ride and was picked up in Phoenix when the car first left the LAX car rental lot and picked up the drugs in Los Angeles.]