Key murder evidence tossed over cell surveillance device
BALTIMORE --A judge has tossed key evidence in the 2014 killing of a woman in Baltimore after ruling that police illegally obtained it using a clandestine cellphone-surveillance device.
The Baltimore Sun reports Baltimore Circuit Judge Yolanda Tanner suppressed evidence on Monday found in 39-year-old Robert Copes' apartment.
Copes faced first-degree murder in 34-year-old Ina Jenkins' death.
Detective Bryan Kershaw said he sought a court order to trace a phone number Jenkins had used. Police traced the phone to Copes' apartment, where Kershaw says Copes let him inside.
Investigators say they found Jenkins' blood inside. Her burned body was found across the street.
Last month, a Maryland appeals court ruled that the cell-site simulator device, called a stingray, violates the Fourth Amendment and any evidence collected using it must be excluded.
Tanner reportedly said she suppressed the evidence "with great reluctance."
She said the Constitution protects people from illegal searches even when the defendant is "likely guilty," the paper reports.