TX2: No SW needed to get IMEI number of an abandoned cell phone to trace the owner

“Officers may open a cell phone abandoned at a crime scene to view non-electronic identifying information, such as the phone’s international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) number, and then use that identifying information to obtain a search warrant for the phone’s digital data. … Police linked Appellant Cesar Martinez to an abandoned cell phone after obtaining the phone’s IMEI number and then using it to apply for a search warrant of the phone’s digital data. The phone’s digital data, in addition to other evidence, led to Martinez’s convictions by a jury in four cases of aggravated robbery, as well as—in one of the four cases—burglary of a habitation with intent to commit robbery and impersonating a public servant.” Affirmed. Martinez v. State, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 2544 (Tex. App. – Ft. Worth Apr. 11, 2024).

“Rogers failed to meet his ‘burden of establishing his standing’ to challenge the search … because he never exhibited a subjective expectation of privacy. He was neither owner nor driver of the vehicle. Police found Rogers—without a driver’s license—in the passenger seat of his girlfriend’s car. And he never showed he had ‘complete dominion and control’ over the car. Rakas, 439 U.S. at 149 (distinguishing Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 259, 80 S. Ct. 725, 4 L. Ed. 2d 697 (1960)).” The court distinguished cases where the passenger was in on procuring the car. United States v. Rogers, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 8604 (6th Cir. Apr. 10, 2024).*