The Supreme Judicial Court said Tuesday that a Plymouth County Superior Court judge was right to deny a request from 42-year-old Jamie B. Johnson seeking to bar evidence from the device, which Marshfield police had obtained without seeking a warrant. Johnson had argued in his appeal that the collection of the GPS data by police amounted to an unreasonable search and violated his constitutional and state rights.
The case stems from several 2012 break-ins in Marshfield, Hanson and Pembroke that had gone unsolved for more than a year before Marshfield police learned about Johnson's GPS device, according to the decision. Randolph police had recommended that police in Marshfield look at the GPS data after they charged Johnson for breaking into a home in Randolph in September 2013 and learned that Johnson, who was on probation, had worn a GPS monitoring device during the time of the unsolved break-ins.
A Marshfield Police detective used information from the device and determined that Johnson was at the scene of 10 break-ins in Plymouth County between May and September of 2012, according to Beth Stone, spokeswoman for Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz. Stone said that Johnson had stolen cash, jewelry, an iPod, a laptop computer and three handguns from the homes while the victims were at work or on vacation.
Johnson had been ordered to wear the monitoring device for six months at an April 2012 probation violation hearing. The violation stemmed from prior convictions for receiving stolen property and violating his restraining order. The monitor tracked his whereabouts minute-by-minute.
"We conclude that although the original imposition of GPS monitoring as a condition of the defendant's probation was a search, it was reasonable in light of the defendant's extensive criminal history and willingness to recidivate while on probation," Chief Justice Scott Kafker, writing for the Supreme Judicial Court, said in Tuesday's decision. "We also conclude that once the GPS device was attached to the defendant, he did not possess a reasonable expectation of privacy in data targeted by police to determine his whereabouts at the times and locations of suspected criminal activity that occurred during the probationary period."
Johnson was indicted in 2014 in connection with some of the burglaries. Plymouth County prosecutors used the GPS data to successfully convict Johnson in 2016 of two counts of breaking and entering in the daytime, one count of breaking and entering in the nighttime, two counts of larceny of more than $250, and one count of larceny of less than $250. He was sentenced to serve 10 to 13 years in state prison followed by three years of probation, Stone said.
Johnson's lawyer, Timothy St. Lawrence, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Cruz said that Johnson had initially asked for the GPS device to avoid jail time for violating probation.
"Mr. Johnson pleaded with a district court judge to be placed on GPS monitoring in lieu of being sent to jail on a violation, and then argued that the GPS device would prove he was not in violation of any future orders," Cruz said in a statement. "It was disingenuous for him to claim that he didn't realize he would be monitored during the subject time."
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