Media outlets asked Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Richard Boney to unseal court orders authorizing the surveillance after the existence of the secret program was revealed by the Charlotte Observer in October. The District Attorney's office must now review hundreds of cases to determine if information was improperly kept from defendants in cases dating back to 2010.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Richard Boney released hundreds of judicial orders Thursday dating back to 2010 that authorized police to use a cellphone tracking device in locating suspects and investigating cases. The Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department began using the devices in 2006, but the existence of the program and court records was largely unknown until The Observer reported on it last month.
In each case where the device was used, police went to a superior court judge and sought permission through an order. WBTV and The Observer jointly asked the court to release the records. Boney could only release records going back to 2010 because prior to that, the judicial orders were not filed with the clerk of court, as required. The documents released show that CMPD has been using the device, on average, for a couple of cases each week, according to the newspaper.
The Mecklenburg District Attorneys Office must now review hundreds of cases to determine if information about the cellphone tracking was required to be turned over to defendants during pretrial discovery. It appears in many cases prosecutors were unaware police used the tracking device.
Read the Charlotte Observer’s coverage here.