Facts of the Case

Provided by Oyez

Investigating a 2019 armed robbery of a Richmond-area credit union, police obtained a geofence warrant compelling Google to produce location data for every device within a 150-meter radius of the bank during a one-hour window, an area that also swept in homes, a church, a hotel, and public streets. Follow-up requests for expanded movement data and account-identifying information led investigators to Okello Chatrie, who was charged federally and moved to suppress the location evidence. The district court found the warrant likely defective but applied the good-faith exception, and the en banc Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of suppression.

Questions

  1. Did the execution of the geofence warrant violate the Fourth Amendment?

Conclusions

  1. On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held 5-4 in Chatrie v. United States that compelling a technology company to produce location data for all devices within a geofence is a Fourth Amendment search, requiring a warrant supported by probable cause and particularity.