United States v. Wernick

148 F. Supp. 3d 271, 2015 WL 8488774
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedDecember 10, 2015
Docket03-CR-0189 (DRH)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 148 F. Supp. 3d 271 (United States v. Wernick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Wernick, 148 F. Supp. 3d 271, 2015 WL 8488774 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

HURLEY, Senior District Judge

By letter motion dated July 9, 2014, Bruce Wernick (“Wernick” or “defendant”) moves for the return of seized property, to wit computer data, pursuant to Fed. R.Crim.P. 41(g).

BACKGROUND

Defendant was found guilty by jury verdict on April 15, 2005 of the receipt, distribution, possession and reproduction of child pornography in violation of various subdivisions of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A, and of coercing and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422. Sentence was imposed on July 2, 2010 at which time he received, inter alia, a thirty year period of incarceration.1 On that same date, “based upon the agreement by and between the United States and the Defendant,” an Order of Forfeiture (“Order”) was filed. DE 189-2 at 2. In that Order, the Court decreed:

The Defendant shall forfeit to the United States, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2253, all of his right, title and interest in the Forfeited Property as property that constitutes: .,, property, real and personal, used or intended to be used to commit or to promote the commission of said offenses or property traceable to such property; and____

Id. at 2-3 (emphasis added).

The items falling within the ambit of the term “Forfeited Property” are listed in the Order thusly:

a) One Compaq Laptop Computer with power supply;
b) One Western Digital Hard Drive;
c) One IBM, Hard Drive;
d) Two Generic hard drives;
e) two CPU’S
f) six zip disks;
g) forty-eight (48) compact disks; and
h) one hundred and forty seven (147) floppy computer disks.

SPECIFIC ITEMS SOUGHT BY DEFENDANT

As explained by defendant:

This motion seeks, with a major exception, the return of the electronically stored computer data originally contained on the computers, hard drives and other data storage media that were seized from Mr. Wernick upon the execution of a search warrant in 2003; the data is also contained within the mirror images of the seized items that were created by law enforcement personnel. The exception is that Mr. Wernick does [273]*273not seek the return of any still or video images or depictions. That automatically excludes all contraband,, such as child pornography, and, beyond that, obviates any need for a time-consuming culling of contraband from non-contraband images. This motion does, however, seek return of all other data including the return of all file and folder metadata. The name, size, location, creation, and access dates of an image file, or a folder containing an image file or files, would not be contraband, even if the image of images were.
This motion does not seek return of any of the seized physical objects themselves.

(Def.’s July 9,2014 Letter, in Supp. at 1-2.)

POSITION OF PARTIES

1. Defendant’s Position

As underscored by defendant,. Fed. R.Crim.P. 41(g) provides that “[a] person aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure of property or by the deprivation of property may move for the property’s return.” (Def.’s July 9, 2014 Letter in Supp. at 2-3 (emphasis in original), quoting Fed. R.Crim.P. 41(g).)

Defendant does not challenge the legitimacy of the search warrant issued by the Hon. Frank A. Gulotta, Jr. of the Nassau County Court'rior its execution. Instead, the focus of his complaint is upon the government’s continued retention- of the non-contraband data seized as a result of the search. Such materials, defendant posits, are outside the scope of the warrant and, accordingly, the mirror-image copies of same possessed by 'the government should be returned to the movant,

2. Government’s Position

In .opposing the relief requested, the government filed two letter briefs, the first dated August 14, 2014 and the second August 3, 2015. The main thrust of the 2014 submission is that defendant’s application should be denied “as the requested information is per se contraband and because it is almost technologically impossible to return only the ‘non-contraband’ information.” (Gov’t’s Aug. 14, 2014 Letter in Opp’n at 1.) The August 3, 2015 letter sets forth a different approach, to wit, that “all the property at .issue was forfeited 'on July 2, 2010, rendering Rule 41(g) unavailable to' the defendant as a vehicle by which to request return of such property.” (Gov’t’s Aug. 3,2015 Letter in Opp’n at 1.)

DISCUSSION

As noted, a permanent order of forfeiture was filed in July 2010. That Order is the predicate for what the Court views as the dispositive issue in the current dispute. Accordingly, the grounds advanced in the government’s initial letter need not, and will not be addressed. Rather, the sole focus of this decision will be on the scope of the Order and its effect-on the relief sought.

. The pivotal question is whether the Order extinguished all of defendant’s right, title and interest in the physical items listed therein or only his interest in those items which were the target of the search warrant, i,e. evidence pertaining to the possession, distribution or production of child pornography in violation of Article 263 of the New . York State Penal Law. Defendant proffers it is the latter, asserting

(1) “defendant has a property interest in electronic data mirror-imaged by law enforcement from-data on his computers)” Def.’s Sept. 16, 2015 Letter at 1 (citing United States v. Ganias, 755 F.3d 125 (2d Cir.2014), rehearing en banc ordered, 791 F.3d 290 (2015));
[274]*274(2) “[t]he Forfeiture Order entered by your Honor forfeited only ‘Forfeited Property.’ As defined in the Forfeiture Order’s third ‘whereas’ clause, that. com-, prised’physical objects on a list — a computer, hard, drives,. CPUs, zip’ disks, compact disks and floppy disks,” id at 2; and ■ • .■
(3) [a]t Mr.. Wernick’s original .sentencing, counsel and the court alb referred to the Forfeiture Order .as effecting a forfeiture of ‘the computers,’” absent any mention of “computer data.” Id. at 2-3.

These three points will be discussed in turn.

1. Defendant’s Interest in Items Seized Based on the Rationale Espoused in United States v. Ganias

In Ganias,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 F. Supp. 3d 271, 2015 WL 8488774, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wernick-nyed-2015.