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Date: 11-13-2024
Case Style:
United States of America v. Aaron Gordon Holmes
Case Number:
Judge: Susan M. Brnovich
Court: United States District Court for the District of Arizona (Maricopa County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Distrrict Attorney's Office in Phoenix
Defendant's Attorney:
Description:
Phoenix, Arizona criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of child pornography.
This case involced a child-pornography investigation of
two CyberTipline Reports that the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) forwarded to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). An agent
investigating one of the tips viewed two images that
NCMEC received from Facebook without a warrant. One of
the images that the agent viewed matched the digital
identification, known as a hash value, of an image that was
previously reported to NCMEC as depicting child
exploitation. Viewing the images led the agent to, among
other things, obtain a search warrant for Defendant Aaron
Holmes’s residence. Holmes was present during the search,
he made incriminating statements to law enforcement, and
numerous illicit images were found on his cellphone.
Holmes moved to suppress this evidence, arguing that it was
obtained because the agent unlawfully viewed the Facebook
images. The Government does not dispute that the agent
unlawfully viewed these images, but it argues that
suppression is unwarranted because two exceptions to the
Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement apply: officer
good faith and inevitable discovery.
Outcome: Denial of Defendant's motion to suppress reversed.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: