State v. Shields

5 A.3d 984, 124 Conn. App. 584, 2010 Conn. App. LEXIS 482
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedOctober 26, 2010
DocketAC 30560
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 5 A.3d 984 (State v. Shields) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Shields, 5 A.3d 984, 124 Conn. App. 584, 2010 Conn. App. LEXIS 482 (Colo. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion

ROBINSON, J.

The defendant, Robert Shields III, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered following his conditional plea of nolo contendere pursuant to General Statutes § 54-94a, 1 of possession of child *586 pornography in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-196d. 2 On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) denied his motions to suppress because the affidavit in support of the search warrant application failed to establish probable cause for the search of his home and the seizure of his property therein, and (2) determined that the warrant authorized a forensic examination of the evidence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following relevant facts and procedural history. On November 15, 2005, as the result of a criminal investigation that began in Pennsylvania, Officer Christopher Grillo of the Southbury police department and Trooper Gerard Johansen of the Connecticut state police prepared a search warrant application and affidavit for the search of the defendant’s residence at 141 Rocky Mountain Road in Southbury.

The affidavit stated that on November 4, 2005, Grillo received a telephone call from Brian Sprinkle, a detective with the Ferguson Township police department, *587 located in State College, Pennsylvania. Sprinkle informed Grillo that through his investigation of Brian Gayan, a Pennsylvania resident accused of having unlawful contact with minors through the Internet, he learned of an online conversation between Gayan and Jerome Cariaso, also of 141 Rocky Mountain Road. During the conversation, Cariaso made comments regarding sexual contact between him and his eight year old son. Immediately after the call, Grillo confirmed that Cariaso resided at the address provided by Sprinkle.

On November 10, 2005, Grillo received a letter from Sprinkle 3 that revealed that Trooper Glenn Brad of the Pennsylvania state police executed search warrants at Gayan’s place of residence and place of employment. A forensic search of his computers revealed that Gayan, using the screen name “Centralpamaster,” had contact with seventy-five screen names belonging either to minors or suspects who had spoken with him about abusing their own children or children they knew. Sprinkle obtained a court order, which asked Yahoo, Inc., to provide log-in Internal protocol (IP) addresses for the screen name “BÍ06488.” Yahoo, Inc., revealed that there was a recent log of IP addresses listed under that screen name. It was found that the IP addresses were owned by Charter Communications, and, on November 4, 2005, Charter Communications indicated that Cariaso, of 141 Rocky Mountain Road, Southbury, was the subscriber for the IP address of 24.151.2.100, the IP address in question.

Additionally, Sprinkle provided Grillo with a transcript of a Yahoo, Inc., messenger conversation *588 between “Centralpamaster” and “BÍ06488,” in which “BÍ06488” asked “Centralpamaster” for pornographic photographs of “Centraipamaster’s” son. The person using the “BÍ06488” screen name informed “Centralpamaster” that they could not swap photographs because he did not currently have pornographic photographs of his son on his computer. 4

On November 14, 2005, Grillo obtained land records from the Southbury assessor’s office indicating that the property located at 141 Rocky Mountain Road was owned by Cariaso, the defendant and Rosalie Shields. 5 Based on the foregoing investigation, Grillo and Johansen submitted a search warrant application seeking to search the subject residence. The warrant affidavit alleged that there was probable cause to believe that Cariaso had violated the following statutes: General Statutes § 53-21, risk of injury to a child; § 53a-196d, possession of child pornography in the first degree; and General Statutes §§ 53a-49 and 53a-196d, attempt to possess child pornography in the first degree. The court, Brown, J., issued the warrant on the same day, authorizing a search of the residence located at 141 Rocky Mountain Road, the seizure and subsequent investigative review of any computer systems found for evidence *589 of violations of § 53-21, § 53a-196d, and §§ 53a-49 and 53a-196d, and the transport of the computer systems to the Connecticut state police computer crime and electronics evidence unit (evidence unit).

On November 16, 2005, the police executed the warrant. Upon entering the residence, the police found the defendant, Rosalie Shields and Cariaso. The police seized numerous computer systems from the residence. The evidence unit completed a forensic examination of the defendant’s computers and found numerous still and video images depicting child pornography. The forensic examination also revealed extensive evidence that the computers were used by the defendant and not Cariaso. The defendant was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography in the first degree in violation of § 53a-196d and importing child pornography in violation of § 53a-196c. 6

On August 16, 2006, the defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence that had been seized, arguing, inter alia, that the search was unlawful because the warrant failed to establish probable cause to believe that child pornography was located within the subject residence. The defendant further argued that the affidavit attached to the warrant failed to establish a connection between the screen name “BÍ06488,” the IP address and the subject premises. On June 8, 2007, the court, Cremins, J., denied the defendant’s motion 7 and concluded that the affidavit supported a reasonable inference that “BÍ06488” requested the receipt of pornographic images and that this inference provided the issuing magistrate with a substantial basis from which to conclude that evidence of child pornography would be found in the residence.

*590 The defendant filed a second motion to suppress on September 11, 2008. He alleged that information discovered subsequent to the court’s ruling on the first motion to suppress defeated a finding of probable cause. See Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S. Ct. 2674, 57 L. Ed. 2d 667 (1978) (holding that when defendant makes substantial preliminary showing that false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for truth, included by affiant in warrant affidavit, and allegedly false statement necessary to find probable cause, fourth amendment, as incorporated against states by fourteenth amendment, requires hearing be held at defendant’s request). On September 16, 2008, the court, Alander, J., heard argument on, and subsequently denied, the defendant’s motion.

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Related

State v. Joseph E.
231 Conn. App. 556 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2025)
State v. Leon
Connecticut Appellate Court, 2015
State v. DiMeco
15 A.3d 1204 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2011)
State v. Shields
12 A.3d 571 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 A.3d 984, 124 Conn. App. 584, 2010 Conn. App. LEXIS 482, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-shields-connappct-2010.