People v. Marinez, 121 A.D.3d 423

People v Marinez reversed a suppression ruling and remanded for a new trial.
Police arrested Marinez and seized his cell phone; an officer looked through it without a warrant and found two photos depicting a pistol.
The photos on the phone were used to support a warrant application seeking to search the phone for firearm evidence.
The trial court denied suppression, but the court held the initial cell phone search unlawful and that Riley v. California (2014) foreclosed warrantless cell phone searches incident to arrest.
Even with probable cause for a search, the warrant could not be sustained due to the unlawful prior search; the evidence was not saved by inevitable discovery or independent probable cause.
Because the error may have contributed to the conviction, a new trial was ordered.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the photos seized from the cell phone must be suppressed	Marinez	Marinez	Suppression required; unlawful initial search tainted photos
Whether the warrant for the phone search was valid given the unlawful seizure	People	Marinez	Warrant invalid; unlawful search cannot be cured
Whether inevitable discovery or independent probable cause salvages the evidence	People	Marinez	Inevitable discovery and independent probable cause do not apply
Whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt	People	Marinez	Not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; new trial required

People v Burr, 70 N.Y.2d 354 (N.Y. 1987) (unlawful search taints subsequent warrant)
People v Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230 (N.Y. 1975) (harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard)
People v Stith, 69 N.Y.2d 313 (N.Y. 1987) (inevitable discovery limitations)
People v Hardy, 4 N.Y.3d 192 (N.Y. 2005) (emphasizes use of photos in confrontation and credibility)
Murray v United States, 487 U.S. 533 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1988) (cannot rely on unlawful entry to obtain warrant)