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CA11: 21 day delay in getting SW for computer search was unreasonable; a seizure lawful at its inception can become unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The Eleventh Circuit held that a 21 day in getting a search warrant for a computer hard drive was unreasonable, and suppressed child pornography found on the hard drive. Entering the CPU was not a search, but it was a violation of a possessory interest. United States v. Mitchell, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 8258 (11th Cir. April 22, 2009): While the disassembling of the CPU did not constitute a search of a container in which Mitchell had a reasonable expectation of privacy, it did constitute an interference with his possessory interest. So too would the seizure of the entire computer to ensure that the hard drive was not tampered with before a warrant was obtained. Yet Mitchell correctly concedes that such a seizure would not have violated the Warrant Clause...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 25, 2009 (boomark / email).