FBI Exceeded GPS Tracking Warrant, But Convictions Survive

FBI agents who used a GPS tracker to monitor the movements of a duo suspected in an interstate crime spree didn’t run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, the Seventh Circuit said Feb. 4.

The warrant permitting GPS tracking limited its use to the state of Indiana. But agents tracked Artez Brewer’s vehicle all the way to California where he and his girlfriend, Robin Pawlak, were arrested minutes after finishing a bank robbery, Judge Amy St. Eve wrote.

Brewer argued that by ignoring the warrant’s in-state limitation, the FBI in effect conducted a warrantless search that directly led to his arrest ...