State v. Garbaccio

151 Wash. App. 716
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 24, 2009
DocketNo. 62161-1-I
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 151 Wash. App. 716 (State v. Garbaccio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Garbaccio, 151 Wash. App. 716 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Dwyer, A.C.J.

¶1 Christopher Garbaccio appeals from his conviction for possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, in violation of RCW [721]*7219.68A.070.1 Garbaccio contends that law enforcement authorities lacked probable cause to authorize the issuance of the warrant permitting the search of his home for computer hardware containing computer files of child pornography. However, the affidavit in support of the warrant application set forth facts indicating that evidence of possession of child pornography would likely be found on Garbaccio’s home computer, thus establishing probable cause. Garbaccio also contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury and, further, that insufficient evidence was introduced at trial to sustain his conviction. Finding no error in the trial court’s jury instructions and that sufficient evidence was introduced at trial to sustain Garbaccio’s conviction, we affirm.

I

¶2 In late May 2006, after a two-week-long investigation, Seattle Police Department Detective Trent Bergmann determined that at least one known video of child pornography had been publicly available earlier that month for download from the Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to Christopher Garbaccio’s home computer.2 In all, Detective Bergmann located 195 computer files with titles indicative of pornographic themes available for download from Garbaccio’s computer. Of these files, 22 had titles strongly suggestive of pornographic content involving minors.

[722]*722¶3 Five months later, on October 31, 2006, Detective Bergmann obtained a warrant to search Garbaccio’s residence and to seize various computer hardware and software, and other evidence of the crime of possession of child pornography. In the affidavit in support of the warrant application, Detective Bergmann attested that a video file that he had previously identified as depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, along with 21 other files with titles indicating child pornographic content, had been publicly available on May 3 for download from Garbaccio’s computer. Anticipating that the judge reviewing the application might have questions concerning the possible staleness of the previously gathered evidence in light of the five-month time lag between the initial investigation and the warrant application, Detective Bergmann declared that, even if the files that had been available for download in early May could no longer be obtained from Garbaccio’s computer, evidence that Garbaccio once possessed the contraband could still be obtained from the metadata of these files stored on the computer hardware. He further declared that, based on the “very large list of images that were titled as being child pornography” and available for download, he believed Garbaccio to be a collector of child pornography and that, based on his training and experience, he believed Garbaccio had therefore likely retained possession of these images. Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 32.

¶4 On November 1, members of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force executed the warrant to search Garbaccio’s house. Law enforcement officials seized multiple items of computer hardware located therein. Although Garbaccio was not present when the authorities arrived at his residence, he arrived home from work during the search. Detective Bergmann then interviewed him, while Special Agent Brian Bujdeso of the United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement took notes of the conversation. At the end of the interview, Detective Bergmann wrote a statement memorializing the interview for Garbaccio to sign. The statement included the admission [723]*723that Garbaccio had downloaded child pornography 10 times in the past year but had not kept the files, instead deleting them. Garbaccio refused to sign this statement.

¶5 Seattle Police Detective Timothy Luckie, a forensic computer analyst with ICAC, later examined the computer hardware seized from Garbaccio’s home. He could not find any files containing viewable images of child pornography on the seized equipment. By examining the metadata of deleted files, however, he was able to determine that, at some point, the known video file that had initially raised Detective Bergmann’s suspicion and the other 21 files with titles strongly suggestive of child pornography listed in the warrant application affidavit had been stored on Garbaccio’s computer. Garbaccio was subsequently charged by information with one count of possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

¶6 At trial, much of the testimony focused on precisely what Garbaccio had said to Detective Bergmann and Agent Bujdeso during their interview of him. The State’s witnesses and Garbaccio agreed on several points. First, they agreed that Garbaccio admitted to having used the peer-to-peer file sharing software LimeWire to download pornographic photographs and videos from the Gnutella network to his home computer. They further agreed that Garbaccio explained during the interview that he had downloaded pornography in the hope of achieving the physical sense of sexual stimulation, which he had lost after becoming paralyzed from his upper torso down in 1997 as the result of a severe illness. Additionally, they were in accord that Garbaccio stated that he was familiar with the meaning of certain Internet search terms that could be used to locate child pornography, such as “Lolita.” Finally, they agreed that Garbaccio had admitted to downloading and then deleting files that contained still images or videos of child pornography.

¶7 The witnesses sharply disputed, however, whether Garbaccio admitted to intentionally downloading child por[724]*724nography. According to Detective Bergmann’s testimony, Garbaccio admitted multiple times during the interview that he had deliberately downloaded child pornography after searching for publicly available files using the search terms that they had discussed. Detective Bergmann further testified that Garbaccio refused to sign the written statement memorializing the interview, even though Garbaccio had verbally confirmed the statement’s accuracy. Agent Bujdeso’s testimony was consistent with that of Detective Bergmann. Moreover, both Detective Bergmann and Agent Bujdeso testified that, in their respective opinions, Garbaccio could not have been confused as to whether the interview concerned the suspicion that he had intentionally downloaded child pornography, even though the interview also included mention of Garbaccio’s downloading of adult pornography.

¶8 In contrast, Garbaccio testified that he never intentionally downloaded images of child pornography and, further, that he had not confessed to Detective Bergmann to having done so. According to Garbaccio’s testimony, Detective Bergmann interchangeably used the terms adult pornography, child pornography, and pornography during the interview in a manner that allowed Detective Bergmann and Agent Bujdeso to misinterpret Garbaccio’s statements. Garbaccio testified that he had developed an obsession with pornography after becoming paralyzed but that he was interested only in pornography depicting images of adults and, moreover, that he had explained this to Detective Bergmann.

¶9 Garbaccio also testified to telling Detective Bergmann that he would download large “batches” of files containing pornographic images without carefully examining the titles of the files.

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Bluebook (online)
151 Wash. App. 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-garbaccio-washctapp-2009.