State of Montana v. Cole Larson Levine

Missoula, Montana criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with sexual assault.

On or about August 14, 2022, Levine moved from New Mexico to Missoula to begin

law school at the University of Montana.1 According to his roommate, Levine went to a

bar on the night of August 17.



Around 2:00 a.m. on August 18, M.H. was sexually assaulted in an alley on her way

to a bar. She was able to get free. The man took her phone and ran away but dropped

another phone during the struggle. Police were able to identify the owner of the dropped

cellphone as Levine.



On September 9, 2022, after further investigation, the State charged Levine with

Attempted Sexual Intercourse Without Consent in violation of § 45-5-503(1), MCA;

Attempted Kidnapping in violation of § 45-5-302, MCA; Aggravated Assault in violation

of § 45-5-202, MCA; and Criminal Destruction of or Tampering with a Communication

Device in violation of § 45-6-105, MCA. On October 3, the District Court issued a search

warrant ordering Verizon Wireless to provide the State with data pertaining to Levine's

cellphone that was stored on servers in another state.



District Court held that such a search warrant was a jurisdictionally invalid extraterritorial warrant and thus was

void ab initio.