Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Jerry Wiltz v. Texas
Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourteenth District, No. 14-18-00718-CR, 14-18-00719-CR · judgment February 27, 2020
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
In the present case, a man’s cell phone was searched without a warrant and the trial court ruled that the phone was abandoned and that the Defendant had lost standing to assert his Fourth Amendment rights to the phone. The questions presented are:
-
Without evidence of intentional abandonment, can a person abandon their privacy right to an item just by leaving it behind?
-
Does the doctrine of abandonment from Texas law conflict with the dicta of Riley and present a conflict for this Court’s review?
-
Does the doctrine of abandonment conflict with other jurisdictions’ consideration of the same issue?
-
Can a cell phone really be abandoned if its privacy interest is equal to that of a house?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Alexander Jordan Houthuijzen
Alexander J. Houthuijzen, Attorney-at-Law, PLLC
For respondent
Eric Kugler
Harris County District Attorney's Office
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Proceedings
- Mar 29 2021Petition DENIED.
- Mar 10 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/26/2021.
- Mar 01 2021Waiver of right of respondent The State of Texas to respond filed.
- Feb 23 2021Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 31, 2021)