People v. Kuhn CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 24, 2013
DocketB243792
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Kuhn CA2/3 (People v. Kuhn CA2/3) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Kuhn CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 10/24/13 P. v. Kuhn CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE, B243792

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA385064) v.

MICHAEL ERIC KUHN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Patricia M. Schnegg, Judge. Affirmed.

Law Offices of Joseph Shemaria and Joseph Shemaria for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Scott A. Taryle and Stacy S. Schwartz, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. Defendant and appellant Michael Eric Kuhn appeals from the judgment entered following his no contest plea to possession of child pornography, entered after the trial court denied his motion to quash and traverse a search warrant and suppress evidence. Kuhn contends the trial court erred by denying his motion. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 1. Facts. a. Issuance of search warrant for Kuhn’s apartment. On August 31, 2010, Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.) Officer Eric Good sought and obtained a warrant to search Kuhn’s Culver City apartment, vehicle, computer systems, and electronic equipment for child pornography and related materials. As pertinent here, the 19-page affidavit in support of the warrant stated the following. Officer Good had been employed by the City of Los Angeles since 2002, began working for the L.A.P.D.’s Juvenile Division in December 2008, and, when the affidavit was prepared, was assigned to the Juvenile Division’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICACU). One of the ICACU’s tasks was investigation of “child sexual predators who use computers and the Internet to pursue their sexual interest in children.” The affidavit described Good’s formal training and experience in the investigation of child abuse and exploitation, which included over 120 hours of training on crimes related to sexual exploitation of children on the Internet. Officer Good provided background information about users of child pornography. His affidavit stated: “I am aware that the following characteristics are generally found in varying combinations in people who produce, trade, distribute or possess images of child pornography: These people view children as sexual objects. They receive gratification from sexually explicit images of minors. They collect sexually explicit images of minors, which they use for their own sexual gratification and fantasy. They use these images as a means of reliving fantasies or actual sexual encounters. They rarely, if ever, dispose of sexually explicit images of minors because the images are treated as prized possessions. [¶] They store such images in many different formats including photographs, printouts, magazines, videotapes, and many other forms of digital media such as hard drives,

2 diskettes, CDs and/or DVDs and other storing devices,” and store them “in many different locations such as their home, their vehicle, their work areas, and other areas under their control.” Collectors of child pornography generally prefer to store images in electronic format as computer files. Officer Good had “personally witnessed collectors going to great lengths to protect their collection from discovery.” Such persons maintain images of minors with whom they had sexual contact; use the Internet to gain access to children for the purposes of sexual exploitation; and chat online with other suspects to share information on the sexual exploitation of children. Predators “will often exchange or purchase child pornography on the Internet or will entice children to meet with them for sexual purposes.” The affidavit described, in considerable detail, the technical process whereby investigators are able to identify persons who possess child pornography. Briefly summarized, that information included the following. The “Secure Hash Algorithm Version 1,” or “SHA1,” is a mathematical encryption method used to produce a unique digital signature of a computer file. No two files produce the same SHA1 value unless their contents are identical. Various government and private agencies cooperate to maintain a list of “verified positive child pornography SHA1 values.” Thus, the contents of computer files can be positively established without viewing the content, “once a known file with a certain SHA1 value has been identified.” Persons with an interest in child pornography frequently use peer-to-peer networks to trade and share such files. One such network is Gnutella, an “open-source,” publicly available network. Gnutella uses SHA1 values in its operation. On July 26, 2009, Detective Schlund identified a computer with the Internet Protocol, or IP, address of 76.171.169.96 as distributing images of child pornography via file sharing. Schlund observed that the computer was sharing a folder with 20 video files, all of which had titles that were indicative of child pornography. Schlund was unable to download files at that time due to a slow Internet connection. On July 28, 2009, by comparing the contents of the shared file with the library of known child pornography,

3 Schlund confirmed that at least one of the files in the shared folder depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, as defined by Penal Code section 311. Also on July 28, 2010, Schlund determined the Internet Service Provider for the computer was Time Warner Roadrunner. Schlund prepared a federal customs subpoena to obtain subscriber information. On September 8, 2009, Time Warner notified Schlund that Michael Kuhn, residing at an apartment located at 7777 West 91st Street in Playa Del Rey, was the subscriber assigned to the IP address of 76.171.169.96. On March 9, 2010, Officer Good matched the SHA1 signatures of known child pornography files with the files identified in the shared folder and confirmed that at least one of the files appeared to depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The file in question was a video entitled “ ‘14 kids teens women (porno-lolitas-preteens- reelkiddymov-r@ygold-hussyfans-underage-girls-children-pedofilia-pthc-ptsc-xxx- sexy).avi’ ” (hereinafter “14 kids”). (Bold in original omitted.) It was approximately 30 minutes long and showed a montage of young girls between the ages of 3 to 11 years, orally copulating and “being vaginally penetrated by unknown adult male penises.” On May 4, 2010, an investigator checked to see if there was any further activity on IP address 76.171.169.96. By comparing SHA1 values, the investigator learned that the IP address “76.171.169.96 was identified 3 times on January 7, 2010, as flagged for having SHA1 values of known child pornography.” On July 22, 2010, Officer Good learned from a homeowners’ association representative at the Playa Del Rey apartment complex that Kuhn was not living at the apartment. On August 24, 2010, Good contacted Postal Inspector Harjala and asked if any change of address records existed for Kuhn. Harjala advised that Kuhn had filed a form on March 16, 2010, changing his address from the West 91st Street apartment to an apartment on Culver Boulevard, in Culver City. Harjala stated that Kuhn had not subsequently filed any additional change of address forms. Additionally, Harjala advised that three other persons—Felipe Serrano, Jeffrey Pederson, and Douglas Nicholas—had

4 also filed changes of address forms from the same Playa Del Rey apartment to the Culver Boulevard apartment.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Vosburgh
602 F.3d 512 (Third Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Ventresca
380 U.S. 102 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Andresen v. Maryland
427 U.S. 463 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Franks v. Delaware
438 U.S. 154 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Illinois v. Gates
462 U.S. 213 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Richards v. Wisconsin
520 U.S. 385 (Supreme Court, 1997)
United States v. Richardson
607 F.3d 357 (Fourth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Riccardi
405 F.3d 852 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc.
621 F.3d 1162 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Allen
625 F.3d 830 (Fifth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Stabile
633 F.3d 219 (Third Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Morales-Aldahondo
524 F.3d 115 (First Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Lawrence Gilbert Chesher
678 F.2d 1353 (Ninth Circuit, 1982)
United States v. Leigh Raymond Tamura
694 F.2d 591 (Ninth Circuit, 1982)
United States v. Joseph Shelton Davis, III
714 F.2d 896 (Ninth Circuit, 1983)
United States v. Stanley Mills Stanert
762 F.2d 775 (Ninth Circuit, 1985)
United States v. Robert Michael Rabe
848 F.2d 994 (Ninth Circuit, 1988)
United States v. Peter John Weber
923 F.2d 1338 (Ninth Circuit, 1991)
United States v. Robert Deleon
979 F.2d 761 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Kuhn CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-kuhn-ca23-calctapp-2013.