A Berks County trial judge has issued what is believed to be the first order in Pennsylvania suppressing evidence based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in United States v. Jones , which barred evidence obtained through a mobile tracking device used to monitor a suspect’s vehicle because authorities failed to comply with the specific terms of a search warrant.
Berks County Common Pleas Court Judge Paul M. Yatron reversed “with extreme reluctance” his previous order denying a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Jones , which held that attaching a Global Positioning System tracking device to monitor a vehicle’s movements constitutes a search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, which requires a valid warrant.
