Barnes

Following the denial of his motion to suppress evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5, defendant Lorenzo Barnes entered pleas of guilty to two counts of second degree robbery while personally armed with a firearm, and one count of being a past convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Defendant was sentenced to state prison for an aggregate term of 13 years eight months. The sole issue he presents for decision on this appeal is whether the Fourth Amendment is violated when police use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate a stolen cell phone and detain the thief. Our answer is the same as that of the trial court—there is no Fourth Amendment violation when the information generated by the GPS, with the owner’s consent, is only a part of the objective reasons leading to the decision to detain. Accordingly, there was no error in the denial of defendant’s suppression motion, and we affirm the judgment of his conviction.

BACKGROUND

The salient details are not in dispute.

Shortly after midnight on November 5, 2009, Charles Parce and Carolyn Fey were walking near Fort Mason in San Francisco when a Black male approached them, brandished a handgun, and demanded…