St. Paul, Minn – Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a decision in State v. Liebel, a case that challenges the use of a GPS tracking device that was placed on an individual’s car without a warrant. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota submitted a brief, arguing that any evidence obtained by the GPS tracking device should not be admitted in court because a proper warrant was not issued to place the tracking device on the individual’s vehicle.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals found that because law enforcement did not obtain a proper warrant to place the tracking device on the vehicle, the evidence as a result of the device should be suppressed.
The following statement can be attributed to Charles Samuelson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Minnesota.
“We applaud the Minnesota Court of Appeals for recognizing that law enforcement must show probable and get a warrant before placing a GPS tracking device on an individual’s vehicle. Tracking devices are an invasion of privacy and merit proper judicial oversight. We are glad that evidence collected through this unconstitutional search was thrown out of court. We hope that this sends a clear message to law enforcement agencies around the State, that they must get a warrant before using a tracking device.”
