Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca3-23-03126/USCOURTS-ca3-23-03126-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Sam Zema
Appellant

Document Text:

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

_____________

No. 23-3126

_____________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

SAM ZEMA,

 Appellant

______________

On Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Pennsylvania

(D.C. No. 2:20-cr-00228-001)

U.S. District Judge: Honorable Marilyn J. Horan

_______________

Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)

December 2, 2024

______________

 

Before: SHWARTZ, MATEY, and McKEE, Circuit Judges

(Filed: December 31, 2024)

______________

OPINION*

______________

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and, pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7, 

does not constitute binding precedent.

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SHWARTZ, Circuit Judge.

Sam Zema appeals the District Court’s order denying his motion to suppress 

evidence seized from his residence pursuant to a search warrant. Because the good faith 

exception applies, we will affirm. 

I

A1

In 2019, Zema called a crisis center and relayed that he had (1) “inappropriate 

sexual relationships with underage males,” App. 73; and (2) “a recent [life] event . . . that 

triggered his feelings for underage [males], which prompted him” to temporarily pursue a 

twelve-year-old boy he saw walking on the street. App. 73. When the crisis center 

operator asked Zema whether he planned “to act on his urges,” he replied, “I hope not”

and stated that “the last time he acted on his urges was in” the 1980s. App. 73. The 

crisis center contacted the police, who then called Zema. 

Zema told law enforcement officers that he (1) was having problems with his 

significant other, (2) had relationships with underage males in the past, including with 

someone in the 1980s whom he recently tried to locate, and (3) had recently followed a

boy he found attractive, which prompted him to call the crisis center. 

The officers, concerned about Zema’s “recent urges and behaviors as well as his 

past relationships,” inquired about his “computer use as it relates to underage [males].” 

App. 74. When asked whether he had a computer at his residence, Zema replied, “don’t 

1 The facts set forth herein are primarily drawn from the probable cause affidavit

submitted in support of the warrant application. 

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most people[?]” App. 74. When asked whether he searched for underage males online, 

Zema said “that he [did] not want to go into that” and declined to provide his email 

address.2 App. 74. In response to questioning about his other residences, Zema listed the 

states where he previously lived, and then asked if they “were going to look for open 

cases in said areas” and “then concluded the interview.” App. 74.

The next day, law enforcement applied for a warrant to search Zema’s residence

and any computers therein, stating there was probable cause to believe they would find

evidence of child exploitation and materials depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit 

conduct in violation of federal law.3 The supporting affidavit set forth Zema’s statements 

to the crisis center and law enforcement, as well as conclusions drawn from the affiant’s 

prior experience as an officer involved in child pornography investigations. Based on

that training and experience, he learned that (1) “individuals who view and receive 

multiple visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct are often 

individuals who have a sexual interest in children and in images of children,” App. 74, 

(2) “[i]ndividuals who have a sexual interest in children or images of children typically

2 Zema never invoked the right against self-incrimination, see Salinas v. Texas, 

570 U.S. 178, 181 (2013) (plurality) (holding that “the privilege generally is not selfexecuting and that a witness who desires its protection must claim it” (internal quotation 

marks and citation omitted)).

3 See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2422(a)-(b) (prohibiting “persuad[ing], induc[ing], entic[ing], 

or coerc[ing]” a minor to travel to engage in any sexual activity or “us[ing . . . any 

facility” of interstate commerce to “persuade[], induce[], entice[], or coerce[]” any minor 

to engage in any sexual activity); 2252(a)(2) (prohibiting “receiv[ing], or distribut[ing],”

material depicting “a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct”); 2252(a)(4)(B) 

(prohibiting possessing material depicting “a minor engaging in sexually explicit 

conduct”). 

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retain pictures” electronically so they are available for view, App. 74, and (3) “those 

involved in child exploitation and/or child pornography offenses commonly communicate 

using cellular phones and computers” and evidence of these offenses can be found on 

computers and cell phones and “can include internet searches, addresses, telephone 

numbers and contacts, as well as incriminating communications via emails, instant 

messages, or text messages,” App. 69. A federal magistrate judge granted the application

and issued the search warrant. The search revealed two computers containing child 

pornography. 

B

Zema was indicted on one count of possessing material depicting the sexual 

exploitation of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B), (b)(2). He moved to 

suppress the evidence recovered from his residence. The District Court denied the 

motion, holding that a magistrate judge could “reasonably conclude” there was a fair 

probability that evidence of a crime would be found in Zema’s residence and on his 

electronic devices based on (1) Zema’s statements about his experience with and feelings 

toward underage males, (2) his refusal to answer questions about whether he searched the 

internet for underage males, which, though not an admission, could be considered as part 

of the totality of the circumstances, and (3) the proffered correlation between those who 

have a sexual interest in children and those who view child pornography. United States 

v. Zema, No. 20-cr-228, 2023 WL 2855058, at *5-7 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 10, 2023) (citation 

omitted). The Court also determined that, even absent probable cause, law enforcement 

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acted in good faith when relying upon the warrant and therefore suppression was 

inappropriate. Id. at *7. 

Zema appeals.

4

 

II5

The Fourth Amendment prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures” and 

mandates that “no [w]arrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.” U.S. Const. amend. 

IV. Probable cause is analyzed under a “totality-of-the-circumstances approach,” which 

requires a judge to “make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the 

circumstances set forth in the affidavit . . . there is a fair probability that contraband or 

evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 

230, 238 (1983). 

Evidence obtained following the execution of a search warrant later found to lack 

probable cause will be excluded “only in those ‘unusual cases’ where it” may “deter 

unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement.” United States v. Caesar, 2 

F.4th 160, 169 (3d Cir. 2021) (citing United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 908, 918 

(1984)). Under the good faith exception to this exclusionary rule, if law enforcement 

acted in good faith in securing and executing a warrant, the evidence gathered pursuant to 

it will not be suppressed even if it is later determined that the probable cause 

4 After the District Court denied his motion to suppress, Zema entered a 

conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the suppression ruling. App. 133-39.

5 The District Court had jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have jurisdiction 

under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Our review of the District Court’s ruling on the good faith 

exception is plenary. United States v. Williams, 3 F.3d 69, 71 n.2 (3d Cir. 1993). 

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determination was erroneous.6Id. (citing Leon, 468 U.S. at 922). Thus, a “warrant

issued by a magistrate [judge] normally suffices to establish that a law enforcement 

officer has acted in good faith in conducting the search,” United States v. Zimmerman, 

277 F.3d 426, 436 (3d Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), and 

typically “will obviate the need for any deep inquiry into [the] reasonableness of the 

officer’s reliance on the warrant,” Caesar, 2 F.4th at 170 (alteration in original) (internal 

quotation marks and citation omitted). 

There are four situations where “a warrant may be so flawed that ‘the officer [had] 

no reasonable grounds for believing that [it] was properly issued.’” Id. (second alteration 

in original) (quoting Leon, 468 U.S. at 923 (footnote omitted)). Zema asserts that one of 

these situations applies—namely, that “the warrant was based on an affidavit so lacking 

in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely 

unreasonable[.]” Zimmerman, 277 F.3d at 437. The “threshold for establishing this 

exception is a high one,” Messerschmidt v. Millender, 565 U.S. 535, 547 (2012), and 

Zema fails to meet his burden here.

The affidavit here rested primarily on Zema’s statements to the crisis center and 

law enforcement, including that he (1) had sex with underage males; (2) had a recent life 

event that triggered his interest in underage males that he was “hop[ing] not” to act on;

(3) a few weeks before the search, saw, was attracted to, and followed an underage male 

for a few minutes; and (4) asked the officers if they were going to look into “open cases” 

6 The “probable cause inquiry remains highly relevant to our good faith analysis.” 

Caesar, 2 F.4th at 171 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 

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in states where he previously resided. App. 73-74. Thus, the affidavit was not “bare 

bones,” nor did it “rely on [law enforcement’s] unsupported belief that probable cause 

exist[ed].” United States v. Pavulak, 700 F.3d 651, 664 (3d Cir. 2012) (citations 

omitted). 

In addition to his recent behavior and sexual feelings for underage males, the 

affidavit recited statements Zema made, which provided a basis to infer that he may have 

searched online for child sexual abuse materials and that evidence of such conduct could 

be found on his computer at his residence. See United States v. Stearn, 597 F.3d 540,

554 (3d Cir. 2010) (explaining that “probable cause can be . . . inferred from . . . normal 

inferences about where a criminal might hide [evidence]” (alteration in original) (citation

omitted)). Specifically, Zema conveyed that he recently searched online for his 1980s 

victim and implied that he had a computer at his residence, raising the inference that he

might have illicit material on that computer. He also told law enforcement that “he [did] 

not want to go into” whether he searched online for underage males and declined to 

provide them with his email address. App. 74; see United States v. Burton, 288 F.3d 91, 

104-05 (3d Cir. 2002) (holding affidavit provided a fair probability that contraband 

would be found where suspect’s “equivocation under questioning on a subject [he was] 

presumed to know readily suggest[ed] he [was] attempting to deceive” detectives).7 The

totality of the circumstances, not simply his nonresponsiveness, reasonably could be 

7 See also United States v. Whitner, 219 F.3d 289, 299 (3d Cir. 2000) (“[A 

suspect’s] suspicious and deceptive response to questioning leads to a reasonable 

inference that [they were] attempting to conceal [evidence of a crime].”).

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viewed as suggesting that Zema had incriminating material on his computer. 

Moreover, the affiant, based on his training and experience in child pornography 

investigations, described a correlation between those with a sexual interest in minors and 

those who possess visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

8

Caesar, 2 F.4th at 177-78 (concluding affiant acted in good faith in executing search 

warrant for child pornography where he “explicitly relied on his experience and training 

to conclude that child sexual abusers tend to possess child pornography”). “[I]n

assessing whether [law enforcement] acted in good faith, we cannot ignore the volume of 

social science research and legal authority discussing the tendency of child sexual abusers 

to possess child pornography” and accordingly “credit the weight of these authorities in 

concluding it was not entirely unreasonable for [law enforcement] to believe the initial 

affidavit set forth probable cause to search for the images.”9 Id. at 176-77. 

For all these reasons, even if the existence of probable cause to search for

8 The affidavit here is distinguishable from those in Zimmerman, 277 F.3d 426, 

and Virgin Islands v. John, 654 F.3d 412 (3d Cir. 2011). The warrant applications in 

Zimmerman and John, unlike here, rested on statements by accusers, not on statements 

the suspect made shortly before the warrant’s issuance, and contained no averments 

supporting a link between the suspect’s recent conduct and his possession of child 

pornography. See Zimmerman, 277 F.3d at 430-31; John, 654 F.3d at 414, 419. 

Furthermore, John “involved a warrant application that lacked any express statement 

about the link between molestation and pornography,” Caesar, 2 F.4th at 172 (citation 

omitted), and the Government in Zimmerman conceded there was no probable cause to 

search for child pornography, 277 F.3d at 432. Neither of those are true here.

9 Our concurring colleague questions our reliance on Burton and Whitner because 

they are drug cases and, in such cases, we have permitted an inference that drug dealers 

are likely to store drugs in their home. While we have not issued an opinion about what 

inferences can be drawn from the expressions of “inappropriate sexual feelings toward 

children,” Concurring Op. at 2 n.5, we have approved reliance on evidence that allowed 

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9

evidence of child exploitation and child pornography was a close call here, it was not 

“entirely unreasonable” for law enforcement to conclude the warrant was valid. 

Zimmerman, 277 F.3d at 437. Therefore, the District Court did not err when it denied 

Zema’s motion to suppress.

III

For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm.

for an inference that child sexual abusers tend to possess child pornography. Caesar, 2 

F.4th at 176-77. In this case, the probable cause affidavit recounted Zema’s admissions 

of his prior child sexual abuse, and therefore, our reliance on Burton and Whitner is not 

misplaced. 

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1

McKee, J. concurring, dubitante. 

I reluctantly agree with my colleagues that the good faith exception applies, and 

we are bound by United States v. Leon.

1

I agree that the affiant acted in good faith in

applying for and executing the search warrant for child pornography based on his 

experience and investigative training that “individuals who view and receive multiple 

visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct are often individuals 

who have a sexual interest in children and in images of children.”2

I do so, however, with reservation, which compels me to explain that my 

concurrence is dubitante. Although I believe that Leon controls, I think that the 

doctrine’s application is a much closer call than my colleagues’ opinion suggests. 

The Majority argues in part that Zema’s recent conduct of searching online for a 

minor he was involved with in the 1980s implies illicit material will be found on his 

computer forty years later. However, the subject of Zema’s search would have been at 

least sixty years old when this search warrant was applied for. Moreover, Zema 

obviously called the crisis center seeking the help he recognized he needed. Rather than 

trying to provide the help he was asking for, personnel at the crisis center called in the 

police who responded by obtaining a search warrant and initiating a criminal prosecution. 

The only thing suggesting that Zema may have currently possessed child 

pornography on a computer was his refusal to answer an officer’s question about whether 

1 468 U.S. 897 (1984). 

2 App. 74.

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2

he searched online for underage males and his refusal to provide an email address.

3

Exercising one’s constitutional right to refuse to answer such inquires and remain silent 

should not be relevant to a determination of probable cause to issue a search warrant.

4

The two cases my colleagues cite in support of a contrary finding are distinguishable.5 

Nevertheless, I agree with my colleagues that our prior pronouncements in United States 

v. Caesar, require that we affirm the denial of Zema’s suppression motion.6

Nevertheless, I remain doubtful that the reliance on Zema’s admitted sexual 

interest in children is enough to support probable cause to believe that child pornography 

would be found on a computer in Zema’s home under the circumstances here. As we 

said in United States v. Zimmerman, “[r]ambling boilerplate recitations [regarding a 

molestation-pornography link] . . . may have added fat to the affidavit, but certainly no 

muscle” for establishing probable cause.7 Zema called a crisis hotline to receive help for 

3

It is hard to understand why his rather flippant response to whether he owned a 

computer (“don’t most people?”) is even relevant to the existence of probable cause to 

invade his home in search of a presumed computer and its assumed content. Id.

4 See, e.g., Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 498 (1983) (stating, in the context of a Fourth 

Amendment seizure, a person “may not be detained even momentarily without 

reasonable, objective grounds for doing so; and his refusal to listen or answer does not, 

without more, furnish those grounds”) (emphasis added); Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47 

(1979). 

5 The two cases the Majority cite for the proposition that Zema’s refusal to answer 

whether he searched online for underage males is incriminating are distinguishable. 

United States v. Whitner, 219 F.3d 289 (3d Cir. 2000) and United States v. Burton, 288 

F.3d 91 (3d Cir. 2002) are drug trafficking cases where the defendants equivocated in 

response to officers questioning them about the address of their home. Although there is 

an inference in the Third Circuit that drug dealers are likely to store drugs in their homes, 

there is not the same inference that people who have inappropriate sexual feelings toward 

children are likely to possess child pornography in their home.

6 2 F.4th 160 (3d Cir. 2021); see Maj. Op. 6 and 8.

7 277 F.3d 426, 433 n.4 (3d Cir. 2002) (citation omitted). 

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3

his inappropriate sexual feelings toward a minor he saw on the street. That is exactly the 

type of response that should be encouraged. 

I do not doubt the good faith or sincerity of the crisis center personnel who 

responded by calling police. They may well have thought they needed to err on the side 

of protecting children from criminal conduct and therefore believed they had to inform 

police of Zema’s call. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder if others who may otherwise 

want to seek help from such a crisis center will be deterred from doing so once they read 

about how the center responded to Zema’s plea for help. Accordingly, application of 

Leon may well be counterproductive here.

Of course, that concern is of questionable relevance to our legal analysis. Given 

the totality of circumstances here, I agree with my colleagues that the denial of this 

motion to suppress is consistent with the Supreme Court’s pronouncements in Leon and 

its progeny. I therefore join the Majority Opinion with the reservations I have expressed. 

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