Commonwealth v. Moody

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The defendants, Cory A. Moody and Devin Newman, were indicted in Superior Court for various violations of the Controlled Substances Act found under General Laws, Chapter 94C. Prior to trial, the defendants filed motions to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of several search warrants issued under the Massachusetts wiretap statute, General Laws, Chapter 272, Section 99. The warrants authorized the interception of calls and text messages sent over the defendants’ cell phones. The motion judge denied the defendants’ motions regarding cell phone calls, but granted their motions as to their text messages. The motion judge then reported the following question to the Appeals Court: “Does G.L. c. 272, § 99 authorize a Superior Court Judge to issue a warrant permitting state law enforcement officers to intercept cellular telephone calls and text messages?” The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) then took the case on its own motion.