State v. Byrd

568 So. 2d 554, 1990 WL 159695
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided October 22, 1990·No. 90 KK 0722·Published·Cited by 64 cases

Opinion

568 So.2d 554 (1990)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Gary BYRD.

No. 90 KK 0722.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 22, 1990.

*556 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Morgan J. Goudeau, III, Dist. Atty., Donald J. Richard, Asst. Dist. Atty., for State of La.

Susan Theall, Attorney at Law, Ed Lopez, Opelousas, for Gary Byrd.

COLE, Justice.

The issue in this case is whether statements made by minor children during the course of a search based on a valid search warrant are to be suppressed, the statements constituting evidence of criminality not directly within the ambit of the warrant. The warrant authorized a search for materials relating to child pornography. The statements disclose the children are probable victims of sex abuse. The defendant is charged with sexual battery (R.S. 14:43.1).

The trial court granted defendant's pretrial motion to suppress the statements and any in-court testimony derived from the information. The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court's result. Both courts assumed the search warrant's validity. The defendant now asserts the statements are inadmissible because the search warrant was invalid and also because the statements are outside the ambit of the warrant's purpose.

We find the search warrant to have been properly issued and the statements admissible. We, therefore, reverse the judgment below and remand for further proceedings.

I.

Defendant Gary Jefferson Byrd is a medical doctor specializing in child psychiatry. In April 1986, Lieutenant Timothy Shirley of the Louisiana State Police received a file from the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources ("DHHR") regarding an incident involving Byrd's treatment of a juvenile, to whom we shall refer as "Willie." The report contained allegations by the child's mother that Byrd had over-medicated the child while he was in Byrd's care and that the mother was suspicious of the relationship between Byrd and her son. Although one investigator at the DHHR "closed out" the file and wrote a finding of no cause for further investigation, the DHHR forwarded the "Willie File" and evidence of other circumstances of possible abuse to the state police because the jurisdiction of the DHHR is limited to children mistreated by parents or guardians.

Lt. Shirley delivered the file to William Scherer, Jr., of the United States Postal Inspection Service, who then initiated an investigation into Byrd's possible activities in the area of child pornography. In May 1986 Scherer began a "sting" operation by delivering to Byrd a Sexual Preference Matching Questionnaire from Freedom's Choice, a company purportedly dealing with sexually explicit material (but which was actually a cover operation for the Postal Inspection Service). Using the alias Mr. and Mrs. James McIntosh, Byrd responded to the solicitation. He indicated he was interested in receiving photographs and video tapes of pre-teen homosexual and heterosexual activity. He noted on the questionnaire he wished to receive "only merchandise, catelogs [sic] or listings" and did not wish to receive letters or to have personal contacts.

Freedom's Choice responded to Byrd's request, informing him he had been assigned a confidential correspondence number, and he could contact other persons with similar interests by writing to a confidential post office box. Byrd answered this letter, again indicating he wished to have no personal contact with other people but was "interested in receiving listings of VHS videotapes, descriptions of photographs, descriptions or listings of novels or topics of writ[t]en materials related to the topics previously annotated." He noted his *557 interest in ordering selected items was only for educational and research purposes.

Freedom's Choice informed Byrd that because his name (Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh) did not correspond to any entry on their mailing lists, the company had been somewhat slower than usual in responding to his request, adding that "[w]e must, by virtue of the nature of our interests, be extremely cautious in our dealings." The company indicated it was referring his request to another organization which specialized in the type of material he sought.

Byrd next received a flyer from Unique Video Imports of San Juan, Puerto Rico (another company established by the Postal Inspection Service), featuring seven adult pornographic videos for sale. The flyer instructed if Byrd were interested in the "Miniature Erotica Collection," featuring "Lolita" and "Wonderboy Talent," he would be required to request specifically that catalogue. Byrd ordered none of the adult videos, but returned the flyer indicating he was interested in the Miniature Erotica Collection.

The company responded to Byrd's request by sending him a compilation of six videotapes from that collection. Byrd, using his alias, ordered tapes entitled "Carnivale" and "School Days," enclosing two personal money orders for $59.95 each. The catalogue descriptions of the tapes leave no doubt they depicted various sexual acts by and among minor children, ranging in age from 5 to 14 years old. The company contacted Byrd to apologize for the delay in shipping the tapes he had ordered. It advised him they would be arriving soon.

The tapes were delivered to Byrd's address by a postal inspector on July 29, 1987. At the same time, Agent Scherer was securing a search warrant for Byrd's home and adjacent office. A United States Magistrate issued the warrant, and Scherer informed federal officers to execute it. They did so, with the assistance of several local law enforcement personnel, some twenty minutes later.

Among the agents who conducted the search was Sandra Wellman, a criminal investigator with the United States Customs Service. Although she had previous experience with child abuse cases while a detective in Oregon, her assignment during the search of Byrd's office and residence was to "determine whether or not there were any violations of the U.S. Customs Law under 18 U.S.C. § 2252 ... [concerning] the importation or exportation of child pornography materials." During the search at least four children were found on the premises. Wellman was assigned the task of interviewing the two younger children "to determine their knowledge of the pornography items in the house...." It was believed the children were aware of where Byrd was secreting pornographic materials. The children did lead the authorities to several photographs of nude children, including photographs of themselves, in a portion of Byrd's attic used for the storage of files.

Wellman testified at the suppression hearing the two children were interviewed separately and corroborated each other's statements. The children told of spankings administered by Byrd and of Byrd's having fondled the genitals of each while the other was present. The fondling incidents were reported to have occurred many times, nearly every day, since the preceding November. This information was transmitted to state authorities, and the St. Landry Parish Grand Jury returned an indictment against Byrd on two counts of sexual battery, in violation of La.R.S. 14:43.1.

Byrd moved to suppress the statements of the children and to suppress any in-court testimony derived from those statements. He attacked the statements as fruit of an illegal search, on the theory the search warrant was issued on less than probable cause because the "Willie File" (which prompted the initial investigation by the Postal Inspection Service) was not based on fact. The trial court, after conducting extensiv

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State v. Byrd, 568 So. 2d 554, 1990 WL 159695 (La. 1990).

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