Toupal case: Court rules on GPS arrest

In a ruling filed in superior court, Judge David Frazier granted a motion to suppress evidence involving the arrest Jan. 13 of Frank R. Toupal at a Spokane hotel room. The judge ruled officers should have obtained a warrant before asking a cell phone provider to use GPS technology to locate Toupal in Spokane where he went after allegedly threatening his estranged wife at a residence in Steptoe.

The judge ruled as the investigation developed that night officers had a three-hour time span in which they could have requested a search warrant. That time span removed the argument that immediate action was required to locate Toupal without first seeking a search warrant from a judge.

The judge, however, ruled in favor of the state by denying a second motion made by Toupal’s defense attorney, Bevan Maxey of Spokane, at a pre-trial hearing April 13. Maxey had asked the court to drop a charge of first degree assault against Toupal because the state’s allegations failed to support a charge at that level.

Toupal is charged with threatening his estranged wife with a pistol after she discovered him at her Steptoe residence when she returned home from work that evening. The court records indicate she talked him out of the threat and he later left for Spokane.

Toupal, 61, allegedly flew to Spokane from Tucson and drove to Steptoe where he confronted his wife who was in the process of obtaining a divorce.