United States v. Richard Jackson

866 F.3d 982, 2017 WL 3429837, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 14762
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 10, 2017
Docket16-3807
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 866 F.3d 982 (United States v. Richard Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Richard Jackson, 866 F.3d 982, 2017 WL 3429837, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 14762 (8th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Richard Jackson appeals an order of the district court 2 denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained during a search of his cellular telephone. The search occurred while Jackson was serving a term of supervised release and residing at the Fort Des Moines Community Correctional Facility. Because we conclude that Jackson had no legitimate expectation of privacy in the cell phone, and the government has substantial interests that justify the intrusion,- we affirm.

In 2013, Jackson pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). The district court sentenced him to 21 months’ imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. Jackson’s conditions of supervised release provided that he “shall submit to a search of his person, residence, adjacent structures, office or vehicle, conducted by a U.S. Probation Officer at a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner, based on reasonable suspicion of contraband or evidence of a violation of a condition of release.” The judgment, as later modified without objection, also required that Jackson “reside, participate, and follow, the rules of the residential reentry program ... for up to 120 days.”

.On February 27, 2015, Jackson ■ began his term of supervised release at the Fort, Des Moines Community Correctional Facility, a residential reentry program. The Facility staff provides residents with a Resident Manual that defines the rules governing their conduct. These rules , prohibit possession of cell phones in the Facility. Residents may store a cell .phone in a locker at the entrance, but no cell phones are permitted beyond that point.

The regular practice of the Facility is for staff to read these rules to residents when they begin the reentry program. When a new resident on federal supervised release, like Jackson, first meets with his intake counselor, the counselor again notifies him of the rules. Multiple signs inside and outside the Facility notify all persons *984 that any item' brought onto the Facility’s premises is subject to search.

On March 16, a probation officer confiscated Jackson’s cell phone after he found Jackson with the device in violation of the Facility’s rules. The officer released the cell phone to Jackson without searching .it, but warned him that the cell phone would be confiscated and searched if Jackson violated the rule a second time.

Less than a week later, on March 21, a Facility staff member found Jackson’s cell phone in the possession of another resident. The staff member confiscated the cell phone. A residential officer, charged with maintaining the orderly and secure operation of the Facility, then confirmed that it was Jackson’s cell phone and asked him for the passcode. Jackson provided the passcode, and the officer informed Jackson that he was going to search the phone. After entering the passcode, the residential officer discovered many pornographic images and “inappropriate sites” on Jackson’s Internet history. A probation officer who worked at the Facility then searched the device and discovered pornographic videos and images.

After learning of the inappropriate content found on Jackson’s cell phone, Jackson’s supervising probation officer visited the Facility and searched Jackson’s phone. While searching Jackson’s Internet history, the probation officer found pornographic websites, including one that appeared to depict underage females. Jackson admitted that another person sent him approximately ten pictures of child pornography, which Jackson said that he deleted. The government later secured a warrant to search the cell phone. After a forensic examination, investigators discovered thirty-seven images of child pornography.

A grand jury charged Jackson with possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B), based on the images found on Jackson’s cell phone. Jackson moved to suppress the evidence obtained from the search of his cell phone. He argued that the warrantless search violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment. The government opposed the motion, arguing that the officers had reasonable suspicion to search the cell phone. At the suppression hearing before a magistrate judge, the government reiterated that the officers had .reasonable suspicion to search the cell phone. Alternatively, the government urged that suspicion was unnecessary, because Jackson had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his cell phone while he was at the Facility.

In a report and recommendation, the magistrate judge concluded that the search was reasonable because ,the officers had reasonable suspicion to believe that the cell phone contained evidence of criminal activity. The district court adopted the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation. Jackson subsequently entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the denial of the motion to suppress. The district court later imposed sentence, and this appeal followed.

In their opening briefs, the parties debated whether the officers had reasonable suspicion to search Jackson’s cell phone. After oral argument, however, the court requested supplemental briefing on the antecedent question of whether the government was required to establish any suspicion at all to search the device. Having now considered the matter, we conclude that Jackson did not have an expectation of privacy in his cell phone that society would recognize as legitimate, and that the government had substantial interests that justified the search of Jackson’s cell phone. Accordingly, the Fourth Amendment did not prohibit the officers from examining the contents of Jackson’s device.

In Samson v. California, 547 U.S. 843, 126 S.Ct. 2193, 165 L.Ed.2d 250 (2006), the *985 Court concluded that the Fourth Amendment did not forbid a police officer from conducting a suspicionless search of a parolee. In concluding that the search was reasonable, the Court assessed the degree to which the search intruded on the parolee’s privacy and furthered legitimate government interests. Id. at 848, 126 S.Ct. 2193. The Court explained that parole is “an established variation on imprisonment,” and that “[t]he essence of parole is release from'prison, before the completion of sentence, on the condition that the prisoner abide by certain rules during the balance of the sentence.” Id. at 850, 126 S.Ct. 2193 (quoting Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 477, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972)). The parolee in Samson was unambiguously aware that one condition of his parole was that he must submit to suspicionless searches by a peace officer at any time. Under those circumstances, the Court concluded that the parolee “did not have an expectation of privacy- that society would recognize as legitimate.” Id. at 852, 126 S.Ct. 2193.

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Bluebook (online)
866 F.3d 982, 2017 WL 3429837, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 14762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-richard-jackson-ca8-2017.