State v. Bailey

2010 ME 15, 989 A.2d 716, 2010 Me. LEXIS 15, 2010 WL 724808
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedMarch 4, 2010
DocketDocket: Pen-09-152
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 2010 ME 15 (State v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bailey, 2010 ME 15, 989 A.2d 716, 2010 Me. LEXIS 15, 2010 WL 724808 (Me. 2010).

Opinion

GORMAN, J.

[¶ 1] Jack D. Bailey II appeals from a judgment of conviction of ten counts of gross sexual assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. § 253(1)(B) (2009); one count of sexual exploitation of a minor (Class B), 17 M.R.S.A. § 2922(1)(A) (Supp. 2008); and two counts of unlawful sexual contact (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 255-A(l)(E) (2009), 17-A M.R.S.A. § 255(1)(C) (Supp. 2002), entered in the Superior Court (Pe-nobscot County, Anderson, J.) following a bench trial. 1 Bailey argues that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence obtained from his home because: (1) he did not affirmatively consent to the search of his computer; (2) to the extent he did consent to any search, his consent was the result of deception and is therefore void; and (3) the officer exceeded the scope of any consent given in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

[¶ 2] Because we conclude that the search of Bailey’s computer violated the Fourth Amendment, we vacate the judgment of conviction and remand for further proceedings to determine whether the evidence obtained as a result of that search must be suppressed as fruits of the illegal search.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 3] Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the court’s judgment, see State v. Connor, 2009 ME 91, ¶ 9, 977 A.2d 1003, 1005, the record supports the following facts.

[¶4] On January 18, 2008, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit contacted Detective Brent Beaulieu at the Bangor Police Department regarding the dissemination of child pornography via a peer-to-peer networking program 2 from an internet protocol (IP) address in Maine. This IP address had connected to a peer-to-peer network on both July 12, 2007, and December 12, 2007, and shared at least one video file authorities knew contained child pornography because of its unique hash value. 3 On both dates, the connections were identified by the same globally unique identifier (GUID), meaning that the *719 same target computer used the same internet access point on both dates. The State Police ascertained through a subpoena of Time Warner RoadRunner that the IP address in question was assigned to a residential internet service subscriber in a Bangor neighborhood.

[¶ 5] Beaulieu obtained a search warrant for the residence and executed it on January 30, 2008. The officers did not discover either the target computer or any child pornography during the execution of the warrant; instead, they determined that the IP address sharing the files was associated with an unsecured wireless router located at that residence. In other words, someone within range of the router was using it to access a peer-to-peer network and disseminate the files in question. After the search, Beaulieu turned off the wireless router at the residence.

[¶ 6] On February 1, 2008, Beaulieu began canvassing neighborhood homes in range of the router in order to discover the target computer. In the course of his investigation, the detective knocked on Bailey’s door. Beaulieu was in plain clothes and arrived in an unmarked car, but identified himself as a member of the police department. Beaulieu recorded the exchange with Bailey with a digital recording device in his pocket, without Bailey’s knowledge.

[¶ 7] After Bailey allowed him into the apartment, Beaulieu stated that he was “checking the neighborhood, [because] there’s been a problem in the neighborhood with people gaining access to someone else’s computer and [he] just want[ed] to make sure that [Bailey didn’t] have the same issue.” Beaulieu asked if he could “look at [Bailey’s computer] real quick just to make sure [Bailey didn’t] have the same issue.” Bailey led him to the computer and manipulated the keyboard to “wake up” the computer. Beaulieu then sat in front of the computer while Bailey stood behind him, observing what he was doing. Bailey asked several questions about what Beaulieu was looking for on his computer. Each time, Beaulieu responded that he was searching for a file that would indicate Bailey had an “issue,” and explained that the “issue” was whether anyone had accessed Bailey’s computer.

[¶ 8] The detective saw a LimeWire icon on the desktop of the computer, but was unable to match the GUID number on Bailey’s computer to the GUID number of the target computer. Because he knew that a reinstallation would account for a different GUID number, Beaulieu asked Bailey if he had ever reinstalled the Lime-Wire software; Bailey said he had done so one or two months earlier. Bailey also told Beaulieu that he had been accessing the Internet through a wireless connection, and that the connection had stopped working two days earlier.

[¶ 9] Without further discussion, Beau-lieu then searched the computer for video files containing child pornography by running a general search for a type of file called audiovisual interleave (AVI). 4 Beaulieu accomplished this by typing the file extension “.avi” into the computer’s search function. The search revealed four AVI files that appeared to contain child pornography; Beaulieu recognized them by the thumbnail screenshots and file names. Beaulieu did not open the files, or search the computer any further. 5

*720 [¶ 10] Beaulieu started to question Bailey about the AVI files. In response to those questions, Bailey acknowledged that he had a “problem” involving child pornography and then, at Beaulieu’s request, orally consented to a search of his apartment; Bailey later signed a consent-to-search form. During the search, Beaulieu found seven eight-millimeter tapes, which Bailey allowed the detective to take. Bailey was not arrested at the end of the encounter.

[¶ 11] After reviewing the tapes, Beau-lieu discovered that one of them contained a homemade video depicting two young girls talking to the camera operator named Jack; one of the girls repeatedly exposed herself to the camera. Beaulieu was later able to identify the two girls and determine that the video had been created in the attic of Bailey’s former residence. One of the girls told Beaulieu that she had spent the night at Bailey’s residence every other weekend for over a year, and that Bailey had sexual intercourse with her at each of those times. The other girl reported that Bailey had also touched her in a sexual manner. Both girls were under the age of fourteen at the time of these events.

[¶ 12] Bailey was arrested and a grand jury returned an indictment that charged him with ten counts of gross sexual assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. § 253(1)(B); one count of sexual exploitation of a minor (Class B), 17-A M.R.S. § 282(1)(A) (2009); and two counts of unlawful sexual contact (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 255-A(l)(E).

[¶ 13] Bailey moved to suppress all the evidence obtained as a result of the February 1, 2008, search of his computer and apartment on the same grounds as presented in this appeal. After a hearing, the court denied Bailey’s motion. The court found that Bailey consented to the search of his computer through nonverbal conduct when he led Beaulieu to his computer and manipulated the keyboard to illuminate the screen.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2010 ME 15, 989 A.2d 716, 2010 Me. LEXIS 15, 2010 WL 724808, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bailey-me-2010.