Appellate panel hears dispute over suppression of Ronald Andrew Archie’s cell‑phone data

At an appellate oral argument, attorneys for the State of Tennessee and for defendant Ronald Andrew Archie debated whether a trial judge wrongly suppressed cell‑phone data seized under a search warrant in a murder prosecution. The panel heard competing legal theories on probable cause and on whether the so‑called Leon good‑faith exception should allow admission of the seized data; the court took the case under advisement.

The State, represented at argument by Alan Gross, urged reversal of the suppression order. Gross told the court that the magistrate’s finding of probable cause should be assessed on the “totality of the circumstances” and summarized four categories of factual allegations in the affidavit: the timing of Archie's phone use around the murders, the defendant’s girlfriend’s apparent deception about his phone use, evidence suggesting the involvement of at least two accomplices, and the affiant…