· Texas · Court case
Texas man asks a federal appeals court to throw out his robbery conviction over a warrantless Flock search
A man convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 60 years has asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to void his conviction, arguing police should have needed a warrant before using Flock data to build a "pattern of life" of his travels on North Texas roads, The Texas Tribune reported Oct. 19, 2026. Police used Flock cameras to link him to five armed robberies in several Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs in 2024; before trial, U.S. District Judge Terry Means declined to block the Flock evidence. At oral arguments on Oct. 5 in New Orleans, Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod asked a Justice Department lawyer how many cameras it would take for "episodic" captures to become constant surveillance. The government argued Flock data is episodic, that the question is better left to legislators, and that the defendant lacks standing because the car police searched for was his sister's and he was a passenger. In March the 5th Circuit ruled that an alert from a single Flock camera was not a Fourth Amendment violation. The court has no deadline to rule. Several Texas lawmakers, including state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, say they will file bills restricting plate readers in the 2027 session.
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