Minnesota case law summary by Attorney Richard Clem: Criminal Law, Cell Site Location Information.

State of Minnesota v. Nigeria Lee Harvey. Criminal Law, Cell Site Location Information

After a fatal shooting in North Minneapolis, police sought cell-site location information (CSLI) for a phone associated with the defendant. An FBI agent later did a drive test to determine the outer limits of the cell sectors the phone accessed at the time of the shooting.

Before trial, defendant moved to suppress the CSLI evidence under the Fourth Amendment and Minn. Stat. 626A.42. The defendant also objected to the FBI agent's testimony as to the drive test. Defendant was convicted and appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The high court held that the CSLI evidence was properly admitted. Even though the police made their application for a court order under the wrong statute, they had substantively complied with Minn. Stat. 626A.42. In particular, there was a finding of probable cause supported by affidavit.

The court also held that the FBI agent's testimony was properly admitted.

No. A18-0205 (Minn. Aug. 28, 2019).

Please see the original opinion for the court's exact language.

For more information on this topic, see the Primer by the National Ass'n of Criminal Defense Lawyers

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Richard P. Clem is an attorney and continuing legal education (CLE) provider in Minnesota. He has been in private practice in the Twin Cities for 25 years. He has a J.D., cum laude, from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul and a B.A. in History from the University of Minnesota. His reported cases include: Asociacion Nacional de Pescadores a Pequena Escala o Artesanales de Colombia v. Dow Quimica de Colombia, 988 F.2d 559, rehearing denied, 5 F.3d 530 (5th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1041 (1994); LaMott v. Apple Valley Health Care Center, 465 N.W.2d 585 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991); Abo el Ela v. State, 468 N.W.2d 580 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991).

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