State v. Mixton

447 P.3d 829, 247 Ariz. 212
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJuly 29, 2019
DocketNo. 2 CA-CR 2017-0217
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 447 P.3d 829 (State v. Mixton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Mixton, 447 P.3d 829, 247 Ariz. 212 (Ark. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinions

EPPICH, Presiding Judge:

¶1 William Mixton appeals his convictions for twenty counts of sexual exploitation of a minor under fifteen years of age, arguing police violated his federal and state constitutional rights by obtaining, without a warrant, information from two service providers identifying him as the sender of certain incriminating *834internet messages. He contends the trial court erred in failing to suppress evidence obtained as a result of that warrantless acquisition of information. We conclude that, although the information was obtained in violation of article II, § 8 of the Arizona Constitution, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies. Accordingly, we affirm Mixton's convictions and sentences.

Factual and Procedural Background

¶2 In March 2016, an undercover detective investigating child exploitation placed an ad on a popular internet advertising forum targeting offenders interested in child pornography and incest, inviting those interested to contact him to join a group chat on a messaging application known for minimal verification of its users' identities. Several people responded to the ad, including one who provided his messaging application screen name "tabooin520" and asked to be added to the group chat. In the days after the detective added this user to the group, the user posted several images and videos depicting child pornography. When the detective sent a person-to-person message to the user thanking him for the pictures, the user responded by sending the detective additional images of child pornography in personal messages.

¶3 At the detective's request, federal agents participating in the investigation served a federal administrative subpoena on the messaging application provider to obtain the user's IP address.1 Once the provider furnished the IP address, the detective was able to determine the user's internet service provider (ISP) by using publicly available information. Again, federal agents served a subpoena, and as a result, the ISP supplied the street address of the user to whom the IP address was assigned. Based on this information, the detective obtained a search warrant for that address.

¶4 Mixton lived in a room at that address. During execution of the search warrant, police seized from Mixton's room a cell phone, an external hard drive, a laptop computer, and a desktop computer, each of which contained numerous images and videos containing child pornography. In some of the folders containing these images and videos, police also found images of Mixton, and images the detective had sent to the user via the messaging application.

¶5 Based on images found on the devices in Mixton's room, a grand jury indicted Mixton on charges including twenty counts of sexual exploitation of a minor under fifteen years of age. The trial court severed counts for other offenses, and after a four-day trial for sexual exploitation, a jury convicted Mixton on all twenty counts. For each count, the court imposed a seventeen-year sentence, all to be served consecutively. We have jurisdiction over Mixton's appeal pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 13-4031 and 13-4033(A)(1).

Motion to Suppress

¶6 Before trial, Mixton moved to suppress both the subscriber information obtained via the administrative subpoenas and all evidence collected as a result of that information including the evidence obtained during the search of his home. He argued that both the Fourth Amendment and article II, § 8 of the Arizona Constitution protected his reasonable expectation of privacy in the subscriber information, prohibiting law enforcement from obtaining that information without a warrant or other court order. After brief oral argument, the trial court denied the motion, ruling that Mixton had no recognized privacy interest in the subscriber information.2

*835¶7 On appeal, Mixton reasserts his contention that both the Fourth Amendment and article II, § 8 protect the identifying information he transmitted to the service providers. We review de novo constitutional issues raised in a motion to suppress, considering only the evidence presented at the suppression hearing and viewing that evidence in the light most favorable to upholding the trial court's ruling. State v. Blakley , 226 Ariz. 25, ¶ 5, 243 P.3d 628 (App. 2010). Here, the parties did not present evidence at the motion hearing, however, arguing the motion on their filings. The relevant facts appear to be undisputed; we view them in the light most favorable to upholding the ruling. Cf. State v. Navarro , 241 Ariz. 19, n.1, 382 P.3d 1234 (App. 2016) (considering undisputed facts to decide suppression motion where no hearing held).

¶8 As a preliminary matter, Mixton urges us to address the issue under article II, § 8 before we address it under the Fourth Amendment in order to "honor[ ] the intent of the [state constitution's] framers to provide an independent and primary organic law, and ... ensure[ ] that the rights of Arizonans will not erode even when federal constitutional rights do." Clint Bolick, Vindicating the Arizona Constitution's Promise of Freedom , 44 Ariz. St. L.J. 505, 509 (2012). Our supreme court has held, however, that "decisions of the United States Supreme Court have great weight in interpreting those provisions of the state constitution which correspond to the federal provisions." Pool v. Superior Court , 139 Ariz. 98, 108, 677 P.2d 261, 271 (1984). While worded differently, article II, § 8 corresponds to the Fourth Amendment; both exist to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. See State v. Ault , 150 Ariz. 459, 463, 724 P.2d 545, 549 (1986). Moreover, article II, § 8 "is of the same general effect and purpose as the Fourth Amendment, and, for that reason, decisions on the right of search under the latter are well in point on section 8." Malmin v. State , 30 Ariz. 258, 261, 246 P. 548 (1926). Very recently, our supreme court stated that "[t]he Arizona Constitution's protections under article 2, section 8 are generally coextensive with Fourth Amendment analysis." State v. Hernandez

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Bluebook (online)
447 P.3d 829, 247 Ariz. 212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mixton-arizctapp-2019.