A Short Law School Stint

The Montana Supreme Court has reversed the suppression of evidence seized from a defendant's cell phone

On or about August 14, 2022, Levine moved from New Mexico to Missoula to begin law school at the University of Montana. According to his roommate, Levine went to a bar on the night of August 17.

Around 2:00 a.m. on August 18, M.H. was sexually assaulted in an alley on her way to a bar. She was able to get free. The man took her phone and ran away but dropped another phone during the struggle. Police were able to identify the owner of the dropped cellphone as Levine.

Charges were filed

On October 3, the District Court issued a search warrant ordering Verizon Wireless to provide the State with data pertaining to Levine’s cellphone that was stored on servers in another state.

Levine filed a motion to suppress the information obtained from the warrant. He argued, among other things, that the warrant was an illegal extraterritorial warrant that was void ab initio because Montana courts do not have jurisdiction to authorize searches out of state and the warrant was issued to an entity in New Jersey.

The district court granted suppression

the District Court found that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule did not apply to warrants issued without jurisdiction and declared it void ab initio, granting Levine’s motion to suppress all information obtained from that warrant. The State timely appealed the order granting Levine’s motion to suppress.

Overruled

The discussion, if anything, makes it clear that non-Montana businesses would be subject to search warrants under the new law. Nothing in the legislative history discussed that warrant procedures were different for a resident of Montana compared to a non-resident who commits a crime in Montana.

...We have acknowledged a good-faith exception under the exclusionary rule. See City of Cut Bank v. Bird, 2001 MT 296, ¶ 20, 307 Mont. 460, 38 P.3d 804. But because the District Court had jurisdiction to issue the search warrant, we need not consider the State’s argument that the good-faith exception applies here.

Montana Kaimin reported that the defendant is no longer enrolled in the law school

A former University of Montana law student was arrested Friday, Sept. 9, on the charges of attempted kidnapping, attempted sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated assault causing reasonable apprehension, and criminal destruction of or tampering with a communication device. 

The suspect attended UM classes before being arrested, and he is no longer a UM student as of Monday, Sept. 12, a UM spokesperson told the Missoulian.

Surrey [British Columbia] Now-Leader had a follow up story

A “top priority fugitive” from the U.S. was arrested north of the border in Creston, B.C., on Friday.

On October 20, 2023, Creston RCMP were alerted that there was a wanted American fugitive, Cole Levine, in the Creston Valley. Levine was wanted in the United States for rape, attempted kidnapping, and aggravated assault. Levine was a top priority fugitive in the United States.

(Mike Frisch)