United States v. Henry Brown
744 F.3d 474
| 7th Cir. | 2014Background
- Brown was convicted of conspiring to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine and sentenced to life due to recidivism.
- Investigators attached a GPS tracker to a Jeep in 2006, and data from that device was used at Brown’s trial.
- Brown argued the GPS evidence was obtained in violation of Fourth Amendment protections under Jones.
- The Seventh Circuit had precedent (pre-Jones) holding GPS data gathered with consent was not a Fourth Amendment search.
- The panel recognized pre-Jones decisions (Knotts, Karo) supported non-search status for GPS beeper data, and Garcia/Cuevas-Perez had influenced earlier Davis-based reasoning.
- The GPS evidence was gathered before Jones was decided, triggering analysis of whether Davis foreclosed suppression for pre- Jones data; the court ultimately did not suppress the GPS evidence on that basis.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre‑Jones GPS data, admissible under exclusionary rule? | Brown | Brown | Yes; exclusionary rule did not require suppression pre-Jones given binding precedent at the time. |
| admissibility of Rimland affidavit as business record and confrontation concerns | Brown | Brown | Affidavit inadmissible for hearsay and confrontation purposes; however error harmless. |
| Whether flight evidence supports inferred consciousness of guilt | Brown | Brown | Proper for jury to infer guilt from flight within limits of Rule 403; no reversible error. |
| Cross-examination of Lewis about a 1995 conviction | Brown | Brown | District court did not abuse discretion under Rule 403 to limit cross-exam; admissible reasoning. |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012) (GPS monitoring of a car can be a search if the intrusion is unreasonable)
- Davis v. United States, 131 S. Ct. 2419 (2011) (binding appellate precedent-based exclusionary rule not applied when precedent was objectively reasonable)
- United States v. Garcia, 474 F.3d 994 (7th Cir. 2007) (GPS/data collection not within Fourth Amendment scope under Knotts/Karo lineage)
- United States v. Cuevas-Perez, 640 F.3d 272 (7th Cir. 2011) (GPS data not a Fourth Amendment search when data is used in certain pre-Jones contexts)
- Knotts, 460 U.S. 276 (1983) (beeper location tracking not a search; no probable cause/warrant required when consented to)
- Karo, 468 U.S. 705 (1984) (beeper installation not a search; police use of location data not requiring (continued))
- United States v. Aguiar, 737 F.3d 251 (2d Cir. 2013) (Davis does not uniformly preclude pre-Jones GPS monitoring analysis in all circuits)
- United States v. Katzin, 732 F.3d 187 (3d Cir. 2013) (panel suggested Davis impact on pre-Jones GPS data; en banc vacated)