Kentucky court delves into use of cell phones for tracking

By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky’s Supreme Court has issued a sharply divided ruling against the warrantless use of cellphones as tracking devices by police. The court said in a 4-3 decision Thursday that the warrantless accessing of a phone for such use violates constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The ruling stems from a Woodford County case involving a robbery suspect. The court’s majority says the robbery suspect was subjected to a warrantless search when police obtained his real-time cellphone location information. They ruled that the information was illegally acquired and should be excluded from evidence. The decision sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.