Stingray surveillance ends with cop shooter getting 33 years in prison

Enlarge (credit: Daniel Arauz)

Last month, a federal judge in Oakland, California, ruled that police must generally have a warrant before they use a cell-site simulator to locate a criminal suspect. However, the same judge also ruled that, in this particular case, a warrant was not needed, and so the evidence obtained from it could stand.

That ruling in United States v. Ellis effectively ended the case of the three remaining men charged with racketeering and the attempted murder of an Oakland police officer in 2013. A fourth defendant, Damien McDaniel, who had previously pleaded guilty in April 2017, was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, McDaniel and two other co-defendants, Deante Kincaid (aka "Tay Tay") and Joseph Pennymon (aka "Junkie") also took similar plea deals last month. That leaves Purvis Ellis as the sole defendant left in the case-he is expected to plead guilty at a Thursday hearing.

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