MO: REP in cell phone provider records protects them from overbroad investigative subpoena

Overbroad investigative subpoena for defendant’s text messages violated his reasonable expectation of privacy. (The court includes stout support for a reasonable expectation of privacy in the product of a cell phone (omitted here, but read the opinion); just because government can get to something like the provider records doesn’t mean there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.) State v. Clampitt, 364 S.W.3d 605 (Mo. App. 2011):

The rationale used by the Warshak court in establishing individuals’ reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of their email is equally applicable to cell phone users’ expectation of privacy in the contents of their text messages. Cell phone providers have the ability to access their subscribers’ text messages; however, the providers’ ability to access those messages does not diminish subscribers’ expectation of privacy in their text message communications. Rather, subscribers assume that the contents of their text messages will remain private despite the necessity of a third party to complete the correspondence. Callers have long enjoyed Fourth Amendment protection of the information they communicate over the phone. We see no reason why the same information communicated textually from that same device should receive any less protection under the Fourth Amendment.

Furthermore, society’s continued expectation of privacy in communications made by letter or phone call demonstrates its willingness to recognize a legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of text messages. What individuals once communicated through phone calls and letters can now be sent in a text message. Thus, as text messaging becomes an ever-increasing substitute for the more traditional forms of communication, it follows that society expects the contents of text messages to receive the same Fourth Amendment protections afforded to letters and phone calls. We therefore find that the trial court did not err in concluding that Clampitt had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of his text messages.

. . .

The investigative subpoenas issued in this case were not sufficiently limited in scope or relevant in purpose. The trial court found that the State obtained copies of all text messages sent to and received by Clampitt for a thirty-two day period, which included the date of the accident and the following thirty-one days. The subpoenas did not request text messages Clampitt sent to or received from specific numbers; rather, the State obtained copies of all incoming and outgoing text messages, regardless of the recipient or sender. Furthermore, the Special Prosecutor testified that “[t]he period of time [specified in the subpoenas was] extended until such time as the defendant admitted that he was the driver of the vehicle.” In other words, the State issued each consecutive subpoena because Clampitt made no admission within the time specified in the previous subpoena. If no evidence with which to charge Clampitt had come about, presumably the State would still be issuing subpoenas periodically in the hope of securing something it could use against him. The trial court found that the subpoenas were nothing but a fishing expedition, a finding amply supported by the record, and a practice uniformly recognized by the courts to be improper. Thus, even though the State contends the subpoenas were limited in scope because each subpoena requested text messages sent and received within specified dates, the only significance of those specified dates was that Clampitt had yet to admit he was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident. Therefore, by requesting all of Clampitt’s incoming and outgoing text messages up until the time he came forward as the driver of the vehicle, the State failed to sufficiently limit the scope of information it requested in the investigative subpoenas.

. . .

Furthermore, the State had no relevant purpose for requesting Clampitt’s incoming and outgoing text messages beyond the time of the accident. The trial court found that “the state was eavesdropping to see if the defendant would make an admission.” By the Special Prosecutor’s own testimony, the State sought the contents of Clampitt’s text messages for the sole purpose of obtaining an admission from Clampitt as to who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. …

Also, the good faith exception applies to police conduct, not overbroad prosecutor’s investigative subpoenas. And, Herring provides no recourse either.

One could almost say this is channeling the [hopeful] prospects of Jones, the day after and without citing it.