No. 18-900

Philip Zodhiates v. United States

Lower Court: Second Circuit
Docketed: 2019-01-11
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Amici (4)Response Waived
Tags: carpenter-v-united-states cell-site-location-information davis-v-united-states exclusionary-rule fourth-amendment fourth-amendment-search-and-seizure good-faith-exception international-parental-kidnapping probable-cause warrant-requirement
Key Terms:
FourthAmendment CriminalProcedure Privacy
Latest Conference: 2019-02-22
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule allows use at trial of cell-site location information illegally seized by a prosecutor prior to Carpenter-v.-United-States

Question Presented (from Petition)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Petitioner Philip Zodhiates was convicted of violation of the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act by aiding and abetting and conspiring to assist a mother’s effort to remove her daughter from the United States to protect her from abuse. Petitioner was sentenced to three years of incarceration followed by one year probation. At trial, the prosecution relied heavily on 28 months of cell-site location information (“CSLI”) detailing Petitioner’s whereabouts which had been seized from a telecommunications company through use of a grand jury subpoena—not a warrant issued by an independent judicial officer based on probable cause. Disregarding this Court’s intervening decision in Carpenter v. United States (issued June 22, 2018), holding that the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant based on probable cause to obtain CSLI data, the Second Circuit decision (issued August 21, 2018) applied the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule, thereby sanctioning a federal prosecutor’s calculated use of the unconstitutionally seized CSLI to obtain Petitioner’s conviction. 1. Does the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule allow use at trial of CSLI illegally seized by a prosecutor prior to this Court’s decision in Carpenter v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 2206 (2018), under Davis v. United States, 564 U.S. 229 (2011)? ii 2. Alternatively, does the term “binding appellate precedent” as used in Davis v. United States, 564 U.S. 229, 241 (2011), permit lower courts to consider nonbinding but persuasive, authority from other circuits?

Docket Entries

2019-02-25
Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Foundation for Moral Law GRANTED.
2019-02-25
Petition DENIED.
2019-02-11
Brief amicus curiae of Religious Freedom Coalition filed. (Distributed)
2019-02-07
Brief amici curiae of Downsize DC Foundation, et al. filed. (Distributed)
2019-02-06
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/22/2019.
2019-02-05
Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Foundation for Moral Law. (Distributed)
2019-01-28
Waiver of right of respondent United States of America to respond filed.
2019-01-08
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 11, 2019)

Attorneys

Downsize DC Foundation, et al.
Herbert William TitusWilliam J. Olson, P.C., Amicus
Herbert William TitusWilliam J. Olson, P.C., Amicus
Foundation for Moral Law
Matthew James ClarkFoundation for Moral Law, Inc., Amicus
Matthew James ClarkFoundation for Moral Law, Inc., Amicus
Philip Zodhiates
Robert Benjamin HemleyGravel & Shea PC, Petitioner
Robert Benjamin HemleyGravel & Shea PC, Petitioner
Religious Freedom Coalition
Stephen M. CramptonAttorney At Law, Amicus
Stephen M. CramptonAttorney At Law, Amicus
United States of America
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent