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Defendant revoked consent to computer search, but by then the officers had seen enough to get a search warrant, so inevitable discovery supported admission of the evidence

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant revoked his consent to the search and seizure of his computer, and he merely acquiesced in officers taking his computer anyway. However, the trial judge did not err in denying the motion to suppress because the child porn on his computer would have been inevitably found by a search warrant. United States v. Wallace, 2008 CAAF LEXIS 226 (C.A. A.F. February 13, 2008): In this case, the images of child pornography on Appellant's computer hard drive would similarly have inevitably been discovered. As the military judge correctly concluded, had Appellant not ultimately consented to the seizure of the computer, the AFOSI investigators would have sought and obtained a search authorization based on probable cause. After all, during his interrogation, Appellant admitted to a sexual relationship with a young girl with whom he communicated mostly via e-mail and instant messenger...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 26, 2008 (boomark / email).