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N.D. Iowa: Accidental accessing of child porn when attempting to turn off cellphone on booking was [reluctant;y] a plain view

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Accidental accessing of pictures on a cellphone when attempting to turn it off before storage during defendant's booking revealed child porn pictures. This was not an unreasonable search because it was accidental and resulted in a plain view. Search incident, as argued by the government, would not apply because the phone was not a part of any crime. United States v. Yockey, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67259 (N.D. Iowa August 3, 2009): There is no dispute that Collison took Yockey's cell phone from him as part of standard booking procedures at the Woodbury County Jail. There also is no dispute that while performing these procedures, Collison did something that caused a pornographic image of a child to be displayed on the phone's screen, and he did so without a warrant to search the phone...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).