{"id":7665,"date":"2012-09-06T06:47:39","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T14:52:46","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T15:42:46","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=7665","title":{"rendered":"SFGate.com: “RI court: Texts can’t be used in child murder case” (Updated with case link)"},"content":{"rendered":"

SFGate.com: RI court: Texts can’t be used in child murder case<\/a> by Michelle R. Smith, AP:<\/p>\n

Incriminating text messages about a man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 6-year-old son can’t be used at trial because the police search that found them was illegal and violated the man’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, a state Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Superior Court Judge Judith Savage ruled that Michael Patino had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his text messages and that evidence from his cellphone was collected illegally, before police obtained search warrants. She also ruled that because of the illegal search, almost all the evidence obtained by police was tainted and couldn’t be used at trial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Update:<\/strong> State v. Patino<\/a>, 2012 R.I. Super. LEXIS 139 (R.I. Super. September 4, 2012):<\/p>\n

When the precious rights of individuals to keep private the expression of their innermost thoughts collides with the desire of law enforcement to know all at all costs, this Court must take special care to ensure that what it says today is fair game for police conduct does not sacrifice on the altar of tomorrow the rights that we hold most dear under our state and federal constitutions. <\/p>\n

In this criminal case, the State indicted Defendant Michael Patino for the alleged murder of Marco Nieves, the six-year-old son of Defendant\u2018s girlfriend, Trisha Oliver. The case against the Defendant is built largely on cell phone text messages that the State claims were sent by the Defendant to his girlfriend and that the Defendant claims were illegally obtained by the Cranston Police Department, without a warrant, in violation of his privacy rights. Defendant protests not only the way in which the police have attempted to build a case against him, but the charge of murder itself; he contends that he at no time intended to hurt, much less kill, Marco, and that the text messages at issue do not prove otherwise.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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