DENVER (KDVR) — Attorneys are arguing the legality of so-called “keyword warrants” including one used in the identification and arrest of three teens in a deadly 2020 Denver fire. 

Five people were killed in that fire after police said one of the suspects set the wrong house on fire in retaliation to a theft. 

Prosecutors said Kevin Bui, Gavin Seymour and another juvenile searched the address of that home on Google multiple times in the weeks leading up to the fire. Those searches ultimately helped lead to charges after Denver police obtained a search warrant from Google.

“A keyword warrant is what happens when police Google search all of us,” said Mike Price.

Price is representing Seymour, and on Wednesday, filed a motion asking the Colorado Supreme Court to look into the issue.

He believes the warrants are unconstitutional in nature, due to the broad scope of the search.

“It’s the exact opposite of the way warrants usually work,” he said. “Normally, investigators identify a suspect, they develop probable cause, and they get a warrant to say search that person’s house. A keyword warrant is the digital equivalent of searching every house and saying ‘don’t worry we’ll tell you who the suspect is later.’”

Last year, a Denver judge declined a request by Price’s legal team to suppress the evidence, but he believes the Supreme Court could rule differently.

“A lot rests on how the court rules on this petition,” Price said. “This happens to be the first case to make it to court, but it has broad privacy implications.”