The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that leaving your cellphone unattended in a home where you’ve been a guest does not give police the right to search it.
The decision stems from a now dismissed case in which a phone’s owner was accused of committing sex crimes due to video evidence officers on the device.
Robin Peoples was accused of rape after spending the night with his girlfriend, she was later found unresponsive. Law enforcement officers found and searched Peoples’ phone at his girlfriend's apartment.
The ruling reverses a lower court decision that allowed prosecutors to use an incriminating video officers found on the cellphone as evidence to bring Peoples to trial.
The court justices said that anyone who is an overnight guest has the same expectation of privacy as the person who lives there, meaning any search of property requires a warrant.
Associated Press contributed to this story.