Virginia appeals court rules GPS tracking of sex offender did not violate Fourth Amendment

[JURIST] The Court of Appeals of Virginia [official website] on Tuesday upheld [opinion, PDF] a conviction where police officers used a GPS device to track the movement of a suspect in a string of sexual assaults without obtaining a warrant. The state’s second highest appellate court failed to address whether the Fourth Amendment [text] generally requires a warrant in such a situation, ruling on narrower grounds [AP report] that the police would have had access to the same evidence they…