United States v. Sherr

400 F. Supp. 2d 843, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30463, 2005 WL 3242231
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedNovember 16, 2005
DocketCRIM. CCB-03-0477
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 400 F. Supp. 2d 843 (United States v. Sherr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Sherr, 400 F. Supp. 2d 843, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30463, 2005 WL 3242231 (D. Md. 2005).

Opinion

400 F.Supp.2d 843 (2005)

UNITED STATES of America
v.
Jay Dana SHERR

No. CRIM. CCB-03-0477.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

November 16, 2005.

*845 Charles G. Bernstein, Baltimore, MD, for Defendant.

Andrew G. W. Norman, Bonnie S. Greenberg, Office of the United States, Thomas M. DiBiagio, Baltimore, MD, for Plaintiff.

MEMORANDUM

BLAKE, District Judge.

The defendant, Jay Dana Sherr, has been indicted for alleged possession of child pornography, specifically "visual depictions" involving "a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct," that had been transported in interstate commerce by means of a computer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B). Numerous defense motions have been briefed, and an evidentiary hearing was held on July 7, 2005.[1] My rulings and an explanation of the reasons for those rulings follow.

*846 BACKGROUND

In December 2002, the U.S. Customs ("Customs") Office in San Jose, California notified the Customs Office in Yuma, Arizona, that its agents had information that Michael Larrabee ("Larrabee") of 2794 Glengarry Drive, Lake Havasu City, Arizona, had been trafficking in child pornography. Acting on this information, Arizona Customs agents served a federal search and seizure warrant on Larrabee's residence and his America Online ("AOL") account. In the course of the search of the AOL account, the agents noticed that Larrabee had transmitted images of child pornography to someone using the screen name "Carols459@aol.com."

The Arizona Customs agents subsequently used an administrative summons to obtain records from AOL for the subscriber information relating to the screen name "Carols459@aol.com." According to AOL, the screen name "Carols459@aol.com" was registered to:

Jay Sherr

6710 Ritchie Highway #485

Glen Burnie, Maryland 21061

Telephone number: (410) 761-2241

The Customs agents in Arizona notified the Customs Office in Baltimore, Maryland, of their information about the defendant. On July 8, 2003, a Baltimore-based Inspector of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted an undercover online conversation with the defendant, during which the defendant indicated his interest in trading "nude pies" involving "preteen" subjects.[2] The Postal Inspector subsequently tried to initiate two additional online conversations with the defendant, with no success.

In August 2003, Customs agents and Postal inspectors executed a federal search warrant at the defendant's residence, which was located at 210 Spring Maiden Court, #103, Glen Burnie, Maryland 21060. On the day that Customs agents executed the federal search warrant at the defendant's residence, they interviewed the defendant, who in a brief statement said that he knew the agents were at his house because "of the pictures on his computer."

The agents seized the defendant's personal computer from his residence. Since then, Customs has carried out a forensic examination of the defendant's computer. The examination to date shows that the defendant had a substantial collection of child pornography on his computer, including 147 still images and eight videos of identified minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

ANALYSIS

1. Motion to Suppress Search and Seizure.

A. Probable Cause

As stated at the hearing, the affidavit is supported by probable cause. The evidence of three separate occasions in January 2003 on which images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were transmitted from Larrabee to the defendant's AOL account, in combination with the defendant's online "chat" with an undercover agent on July 8, 2003, indicating his interest in trading "nude pies" involving "preteen" subjects, supports the conclusion that the defendant was probably engaged in knowingly trading child pornography *847 over the Internet and accordingly that relevant evidence would be found on his computer as of August 2003. As stated at the hearing, the affidavit must be read in a commonsense fashion, and the obvious typographical error of July 8, 2002, rather than July 8, 2003, does not invalidate the warrant. Further, the agent's failure to include in the affidavit the fact that, the defendant did not respond to two later attempts to reach him online does not provide a basis for a Franks hearing, as no wilful material omission has been shown. Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). Finally, the probable cause in the affidavit was not stale, despite the fact that there was an eight month delay between the defendant's receipt of child pornography in January 2003 and the issuance of the search warrant in August 2003. It is well established that information in support of probable cause in child pornography cases is less likely to become stale because collectors and traders of child pornography are known to store and retain their collections for extended periods of time. See, e.g., United States v. Ricciardelli, 998 F.2d 8, 12, n. 4 (1st Cir.1993) ("history teaches that [child pornography] collectors prefer not to dispose of their dross, typically retaining obscene material for years."); United States v. Lacy, 119 F.3d 742 (9th Cir.1997) (10-month old information in support of probable cause was not stale). Moreover, the defendant's online chat in July 2003 indicated that his interest in child pornography was continuing.

B. Good Faith

In the event I am wrong about the presence of probable cause in the affidavit, suppression nevertheless would be inappropriate under United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984).

C. Images

Nothing in the affidavit, including the statutory definitions cited, suggests that the agent is referring to anything other than real, actual children in the images described for the magistrate judge. As other courts have explained, the Supreme Court's holding in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 122 S.Ct. 1389, 152 L.Ed.2d 403 (2002), expressly limited its holding to the two provisions that expanded the definition of child pornography to include virtual child pornography. See, e.g., United States v. Ellyson, 326 F.3d 522, 531 (4th Cir.2003); United States v. Kelly, 314 F.3d 908, 912-13 (7th Cir.2003); United States v. Kimler, 335 F.3d 1132, 1141 (10th Cir.2003). Hence, while Free Speech Coalition

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Bluebook (online)
400 F. Supp. 2d 843, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30463, 2005 WL 3242231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sherr-mdd-2005.