Commonwealth v. Davis

176 A.3d 869
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 30, 2017
Docket1243 MDA 2016
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 176 A.3d 869 (Commonwealth v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Davis, 176 A.3d 869 (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION BY

FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.:

Joseph J. Davis appeals from the. June 30, 2016 order' granting the Commonwealth’s pre-trial motion to compel appellant to provide the password that will allow access to his lawfully-seized encrypted computer. After careful review, we affirm.

The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. On October 10, 2015, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at appellant’s residence after it was determined that a computer with an IP address subscribed to appellant utilized peer-to-peer file sharing network, eMule, to share videos depicting child pornography, During the course of the search, law enforcement officials seized a password-encrypted HP Envy 700 desktop computer. The Forensic Unit of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney. General (“POAG”) was unable to examine the contents of this computer due to the “TrueC-rypt” encryption program installed on it and appellant has refused to provide the password to investigating agents.

On December 17, 2015, the Commonwealth filed a pre-trial “Motion to Compel Defendant to Provide Password for Encryption Enabled Device.” On January 14, 2016, the trial court conducted an eviden-tiary hearing on the Commonwealth’s motion. The testimony adduced at this hearing was summarized by the trial court as follows:

TESTIMONY OF SPECIAL AGENT [JUSTIN] LERI
On July 14, 2014, [POAG] Agent Leri was conducting an online investigation on the eDonkey2000[ 1 ] network for offenders sharing child pornography. On that date a computer was located that was sharing files believed t<) be sharing other files of child pornography. When the computer is located that is suspected of sharing these files, the IP address of that computer is recorded and one-to-. one connection is made.
Agent Leri testified that the focus of the investigation was a device at IP address 98.235.69.242. This devicé had a 1-to-l connection to the [POAG] as a suspect file, depicting child pbrnogra-phy. The agent was undercover in a peer to peer connection. Later that same day, the file from the suspect device was made available and downloaded through the direct connection to the law enforcement computer.
Special Agent Leri personally viewed the file identified as [boy+man][MB]NEW!!Man&Boy 13Yo.mpg. He described it as a video, approximately twenty[-]six (26) minutes and fifty[-] four (54) seconds in length, depicting a young prepubescent boy. [Agent Leri’s description of the contents of the video clearly established its extensive pornographic nature.] Officer Leri is certain that the video he watched came from [appellant’s] computer. He attested that the law enforcement software is retrofitted for law. .enforcement and the software logs in the activity. The retrofit allows for one-to-one connection only. According to Agent Leri, what this means is that law enforcement is directly connected to the subject’s computer and only the suspect’s computer.
The IP address was registered to Comcast Communication. After obtaining a court order directing Comcast Cable to release the subscriber information, [appellant] was identified as the subscriber. The [POAG] then obtained a search warrant for the listed address. The warrant was executed on September 9, 2014. The agent testified that [appellant] waived his Miranda[ 2 ] rights and admitted that he did his time for prior pornography arrests. He then refused to answer any questions.
SPECIAL AGENT [DANIEL] BLOCK
Agent Block testified that he is a special agent assigned to the Child Predator Section of the [POAG]. On October 4, 2015, an online investigation on the eMule network for offenders sharing child pornography was being conducted. The internet provider was determined to be Comcast and an administrative subpoena was issued which revealed the billing information belonged to the billing address. The focus of the investigation was IP address 174,59.168.185, port 6350. The file was downloaded and viewed.
[Agent Block’s testimony indicated that the video in question depicted a prepubescent boy between the ages of nine and eleven years old and clearly described the extensive pornographic content of the video.]
Special Agent Block indicated that’the Log File provides the date and time of the download and the client user’s hash-tag'whieh is unique to [appellant]. Again Comcast Cable identified, through a Court Order, the subscriber was [appellant]. A search warrant was prepared and executed at [appellant’s] home. Agent Block executed a search warrant on [appellant] at his residence and gave [appellant] his Miranda warnings. While he was at [appellant’s] home, [appellant] spoke to Agent Block telling him he resided alone at the apartment since 2006 and that he was hardwired internet services which are password protected. According to Agent Block,' [appellant] stated he uses this service so no one else can steal his Wi-Fi. There was only one computer in the house and that [no]one else uses it.-
[Appellant] told Agent Block that he was previously arrested for child pornography related crimes. His reasoning was that it is legal in other countries like Japan and [the] Czech Republic, and he does not know why it is illegal here. He stated “what people do in the privacy of their own homes is their own business. It’s all over the 'Internet. I don’t know why you guys care so much about stuff when people are getting killed and those videos are being posted.”
Agent Block testified that [appellant’s] IP address was used during downloads on the following dates: July 4, 2015; July 5, 2015; July 6, 2015; July 19, 2015; July 20, 2015, August 2, 2015; August 9, 2015; August 16, 2015; September 5, 2015; September 12, 2015; September 13, 2015; September 14, 2015; September 19, 2015; September 20, 2015; September 23, 2015; September 26, 2015; September 27, 2015; October 4, 2015; October 5, 2015; October 10,2015; October 17, 2015; October 18, 2015 and October 19, 2015.
While transporting [appellant] to his arraignment, [appellant] spoke about gay, X-rated movies that he enjoyed watching. He stated that he liked 10,11, 12 & 13 year olds, referring to them as, “[a] perfectly ripe apple.” Agent Block requested that [appellant] give him his password. [Appellant] replied that it is sixty-four (64) characters and “Why would I give that to you?” “We both know what’s on there. It’s only going to hurt me. No f[* * *]ing way I’m going to give it to you.”
TESTIMONY OF AGENT BRADEN COOK
After [appellant] was arrested and the various devices were confiscated, Agent Cook previewed the computer. The hard drive was found to contain a “TrueC-rypt” encrypted protected password setup with TrueCrypt 7.1 aBootloader. The user must input the password for the TrueCrypt encrypted volume in order to boot the system into the Operating System.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
176 A.3d 869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-davis-pasuperct-2017.