AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas’ highest criminal court has upheld the murder conviction of a man who claimed police violated his rights by using cellphone location data to find him without a warrant.
The Austin American-Statesman reports the ruling this week was a first for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals following a key U.S. Supreme Court decision over digital privacy rights.
Christian Sims was convicted in the 2014 fatal shooting of his grandmother. Investigators found him after data provided by his phone provider placed him at an Oklahoma motel.
The Supreme Court in June ruled that police generally need a warrant to look at records that reveal where cellphone users have been. But the Texas court said Sims had no privacy expectation because investigators only accessed less than three hours of real-time data.
—
