ComputerForensicsDigest.com

Brief Summary: Defendant who was convicted of possessing child pornography challenged reasonableness of airport search that revealed child pornography on computer diskettes. Defendant also challenged the government's reliance on the fruits of the airport search as partial support for a search warrant five years later that resulted in the discovery of additional child pornography. Finally, Defendant argued government failed to show that he "willfully" downloaded child pornography.

Facts: In 1998, Stefan Irving visited Acapulco, Mexico and stayed at a guest house catering to travelers interested in having sex with minors. Irving returned to the United States through the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in Texas, where he was stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs as part of an on-going investigation. During the course of the search, agents uncovered two 3.5 inch computer diskettes containing images of child pornography.

Five years later, during related investigation into sexual tourism, Irving was arrested in his Brooklyn apartment. During the arrest, agents observed a computer and monitor in Irving's apartment, and applied for a search warrant to seize and search it. The application for the search warrant was based in part on the results of the search conducted at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. The search warrant was granted and agents subsequently found 76 mpeg files on Irving's computer that depicted pre-pubescent boys engaged in sexual activity. Clips from two of the video files were played for the jury and a federal agent testified that the remainder were essentially the same. Irving was convicted, among other things, of receiving and possessing child pornography.

Issue(s): On appeal, Irving raised several issues, including:

1. Did the government act reasonably in searching Irving at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport upon his return from Mexico in 1998?


2. Was the search warrant issued in 2003 for Irving's home and computer invalid on the grounds that it was based in part on stale information (i.e., the 1998 airport search)?


3. Did the government fail to prove that Irving "willfully" downloaded child pornography to his home computer?

Decision:

1. The government's search of Irving at the airport was reasonable under the circumstances.


2. Despite the age of some of the supporting reasons, there was probable cause to support the issuance of the search warrant for Irving's home and computer.


3. The government is not required to show that Irving "willfully" downloaded child pornography; it need only show that he did so "knowingly," and the evidence supported the jury's conclusion that the government had met that burden.

Reasoning:

1. Customs officials are entitled to conduct "routine searches" at airports without a requirement of reasonable suspicion, so the search of Irving's luggage was constitutional. The examination of computer disks is not "routine," but the search was constitutional if supported by reasonable suspicion. Given Irving's history as a convicted pedophile, his visit to an "orphanage" in Mexico, and the presence of children's books in his luggage, Customs officials had reasonable suspicion to examine the computer disks.


2. The age of supporting evidence is relevant to determining whether a search warrant was properly granted. However, the staleness determination is unique in the case of child pornography, since collectors are known to hoard such material for long periods of time. Given all of the circumstances of the case, the search warrant for Irving's home and computer was properly issued.


3. Under the terms of the federal child pornography statutes, the government need only show that a defendant "knowingly" received or possessed the images in question. In this case, the government did so: Irving had stored the video images in his "My Documents" folder, and the evidence showed that he was not working on the days on which the videos were downloaded. There was no evidence that anyone else lived with Irving or was in his apartment on the days in question.