This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, April 19th, 2016.

I'm Caleb Brown.

How do police make use of so-called sting rays intercepting cell phone communications,

and what do non-disclosure agreements with companies that make those stingrays mean for criminal justice.

For the Cato Institute's Benefactor's Summit in Las Vegas,

Cato's Adam Bates, discussed the implications.

In 2013, two men set up a drug deal in a parking lot in Tallahassee. When the drug dealer arrived, the men

pulled out guns. They robbed the drug dealer. They stole the drugs. They stole

money. And importantly, they stole the drug dealer's cell phone.

The drug dealer managed to contact police,

which is a 911 call that I would very much like to hear.

They stole my drugs, come help me, police.

But a few days later, the police... They stole my drugs, come help me, police.

But a few days later, the police managed to track down the thieves.

They found them with the drugs, they found the money,

and they found the stolen cell phone.

I think prosecutors would call this a slam dunk case.

They had the drugs and the money and the phone in the home where the men were found. In Florida this is

aggravated armed robbery which carries more than 30 years in prison it's a

felony. So this is a dead to rights prosecution, 30 years in prison.

But that's not what happened.

Instead, the men went home that day, the day of their trial,

...