After successfully getting a judge to take 42 Dugg off of "home incarceration," the attorney for the Detroit rapper has filed new legal motions accusing federal authorities of violating 42 Dugg's rights.
The legal motion, filed Monday, alleges that federal authorities engaged in an unlawful "fishing expedition" by searching 42 Dugg's phone last March, and that they violated his Fifth Amendment rights by interviewing him around the same time. 42 Dugg faces a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm for allegedly having a gun in an Atlanta-area shooting range.
42 Dugg allegedly possessed the gun in November 2019, but federal authorities didn't author a search warrant until four months later, when 42 Dugg was charged. The search warrant application makes no mention of why authorities had reason to believe there would be incriminating evidence in the phone or even if he possessed it at the time of the alleged crime, his attorney argued.
"The search warrant appears to be a fishing expedition by agents hoping that if (42 Dugg) went to a gun range once, four months prior, they might find additional incriminating information on his phone they could use to build some other case against him," 42 Dugg's attorney, Marrisa Goldberg, wrote in the motion. "This is an unacceptable use of a search warrant."
Additionally, Goldberg wrote, agents could have gotten information they claimed they needed to search his phone for -- like GPS records -- simply by sending a subpoena to the phone company.
It is unknown what evidence, if any, the feds gleaned from a search of the phone; eight months after he was charged, 42 Dugg still hasn't been provided a copy of the search warrant return, nor a recording of his statement to authorities, Goldberg wrote.
The search warrant application, attached to Goldberg's motion, says that ATF agents screenshotted a picture from 42 Dugg's Instagram account showing him standing outside the shooting range where he allegedly possessed a gun. The application, written by ATF special agent Brett Brandon, describes 42 Dugg as "a Detroit rapper and member of the Hustle Boys aka '42' criminal street gang."
If 42 Dugg's motion succeeds, it will be his second legal victory in a row. Last week, a federal judge signed an order allowing him to leave his home "for employment obligations, to attend charitable events, religious services, meetings with his attorneys, medical appointments, and any other activities approved by pretrial officers." The order imposes a curfew from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. each day. 42 Dugg had previously been on house arrest with stringent conditions.
Written by Nate Gartrell
