072 United States v. Nelson

Prior to recent legally dubious phone searches at border crossings, I have never had occasion to sweat giving someone access to my phone. Now, I fear my pure sass would have me, a U.S. citizen, extradited to a country I have no ties to. I suppose we are all fortunate that I squeaked back into the country when I did. At least now we know that, should I vacation abroad, I’ll take a prepaid phone without my usual detritus on it. I recognize that as an adult who didn’t have a smartphone until my senior year of college, I got a lot of growing up out of the way in the pre-digital era, and, I’ve always been a total rule follower, as I suspect many middle children obsessed with fairness are. That’s all to say it’s not shocking to me that young people with access to the entire world in the palm of their hands sometimes retain incriminating evidence on their phones and might not realize that some things shouldn’t be documented for posterity. That some paper trails can only cause harm. For Lance Corporal Nelson, it wasn’t so much that he didn’t realize how closely he should safeguard his phone, but rather that he avows he did not understand what his privacy rights were. This episode discussed substance use. If you, or someone you know is struggling with substance use, the SAMHSA National Helpline can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP and their treatment locator is available online. I relied heavily on the NMCCA and CAAF opinions. I also referred to the information from some of the briefing.     Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to share, rate and review it wherever you hit play today. I'm happy to receive constructive feedback or case suggestions at conductunbecomingpod@gmail.com. Join me over on Instagram @conductunbecoming! Disclaimer: Conduct Unbecoming is a podcast where I get to talk about interesting crimes and cases that involve US military service members. I research, write, and produce the podcast myself… the opinions expressed are my own and, perhaps it’s obvious, Conduct Unbecoming is not approved, endorsed, or authorized by the Department of Defense. I am not a military JAG and have never been a military JAG. While I'm a practicing attorney, I don't do direct criminal defense. This podcast is a passion project, not legal advice or expert opinion.