Topic: Probable Cause existed to support warrant and Good Faith Exception applied to the exclusionary rule.
An FBI Child Exploitation Task Force Officer was investigating the sharing of child pornography through online, peer‐to‐peer networks (P2P). His investigation led him to believe child pornography would be found in the college apartment, house, and pickup truck of 40‐year‐old Rees. Seeking warrants, the officer gave a magistrate a 17‐page probable‐cause affidavit, describing his training and experience, methods for tracking child pornography on peer‐to‐peer networks, and the specific investigation that steered him toward Rees’s residences and vehicle. When officers executed the warrants, they found thousands of still images and nearly 200 videos of child pornography on Rees’s computer. Charged with receiving and possessing child pornography, Rees unsuccessfully moved to suppress the evidence. The Seventh Circuit affirmed holding the warrant‐issuing judge had a substantial basis for concluding that there was a fair probability evidence of child‐pornography crimes would be uncovered in the searches. Furthermore, even if the warrants were invalid, the officers executed the warrants in good faith so the Good Faith Exception to the exclusionary rule would apply.
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