The double-murder trial for Susan Van Note has been delayed again after the defense questioned how law enforcement obtained her cell phone records.
The Lee's Summit lawyer is accused of killing her father, William Van Note, and his girlfriend, Sharon Dickson, at their Lake of the Ozarks home in October 2010, and is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Jury selection for Van Note's trial was to start Monday at the Laclede County Government Center in Lebanon. Her original trial ended during jury selection in early June when Judge Kenneth Hayden declared a mistrial after potential jurors apparently discussed facts of the case during a court recess.
Hayden reset the trial date for Aug. 17-28. However, on Aug. 10, Van Note's attorneys made a motion to suppress evidence, alleging "a warrantless search of Van Note's cellular phone record." The motion also alleged violations of Van Note's Fourth Amendment rights. Van Note's attorneys said two subpoenas were issued for "constitutionally protected information" related to Van Note's cellular telephone records during the investigation.
The subpoenas sought Van Note's cell phone activities, including incoming and outgoing voice calls, text messages, emails, data transfers and GPS information, for 90 days before the application date, as well as data from cell phone numbers and data accessed from three communications towers near Sunrise Beach around the time of the murders.
"The subpoenas in this case allowed law enforcement to, warrantless, peer into the day-to-day activities of Ms. Van Note's private life if at any time she carried the cell phone," the attorney's said in the motion to suppress filing. "Ms. Van Note held an expectation that merely carrying this tool of modern society would not expose her to the prying eye of the government into her private affairs. In light of this expectation of privacy ... such an intrusion (search) by the government cannot be made without a warrant."
Camden County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Gilley was unavailable for comment.
The evidentiary hearing and new trial date have not been set.