Kelly v. State
436 Md. 406
| Md. | 2013Background
- Police attached a GPS device to Kelly’s vehicle on April 2, 2010 and tracked movements for 11 days.
- Tracking informed warrants leading to searches of Kelly’s home, Saratoga Street residence, vehicle, and three pawn shops.
- Evidence from these searches was used in separate Howard County and Anne Arundel County prosecutions for burglaries.
- Kelly moved to suppress all GPS-derived and related evidence; pretrial rulings denied suppression in both cases.
- Supreme Court’s Jones decision (2012) later held GPS monitoring of a vehicle constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.
- Maryland intermediate appellate court (Kelly) had relied on Knotts and Davis-Briscoe framework before Jones.
- Maryland Supreme Court’s decision analyzes whether pre-Jones binding appellate precedent authorized GPS tracking and whether the Davis good-faith exception applies.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Jones binding precedent authorized GPS tracking? | Kelly argues no binding Maryland precedent authorized warrantless GPS tracking. | State argues Knotts provided binding precedent permitting GPS tracking and that Davis good-faith applies. | Yes; Knotts bound Maryland law pre-Jones, supporting good-faith applicability. |
| Does the Davis good-faith exception apply to suppressions here? | Kelly contends no good-faith basis due to lack of binding precedent. | State contends Davis applies because officers reasonably relied on binding Maryland precedent. | Yes; Davis good-faith exception applies, so suppression not required. |
Key Cases Cited
- Knotts, 460 U.S. 276 (1983) (GPS tracking on public roads not a Fourth Amendment search)
- Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012) (GPS installation and monitoring is a search)
- Davis v. United States, 131 S. Ct. 2419 (2011) (good-faith exception for objectively reasonable reliance on binding appellate precedent)
- Briscoe v. State, 422 Md. 384 (2011) (adopts Davis framework for state cases)
- Stone v. State, 178 Md. App. 428 (2008) (Maryland pre-Jones Knotts-based GPS tracking discussion)
- Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314 (1987) (retroactivity of new Supreme Court rules on direct review)