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 acti...