As crime-solving goes hi-tech, public defenders scramble to keep up

The first time Caleb Kenyon, a defense attorney in Florida, saw a geofence warrant was when a new client received an alarming email from Google in January 2020. Local police were requesting personal data from the client, Zachary McCoy, and Kenyon had just seven days to stop Google from turning it over, the email said.

The geofence warrant included a map and GPS coordinates, and instructed Google to provide identifying information for every user whose device was found within the radius of that location at a certain date and time.

Kenyon challenged the warrant with the guidance of Price and the NACDL. Police ultimately withdrew it.

When it comes to challenging these kinds of requests, the deck is stacked against public defenders and defense attorneys and, consequently, their clients.

Price and Koenig asked the court to subpoena Google for testimony to learn how the company collects user location data, and what it does when police ask for it. This gave attorneys and the public one of the first looks inside the process. Google testified, for instance, that it typically collects location data from devices every two minutes.

The NACDL hopes to find a case it can eventually bring to the supreme court to test and challenge the constitutionality of these surveillance mechanisms. In the meantime, it will continue to fight for awareness, one courtroom at a time.