Opinion ID: 182380
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Laptop Computer

Text: Oliver also objects to the district court's ruling that the contents of the laptop computer were admissible under the independent source doctrine. Evidence not obtained as a result of police illegality, but rather through a legal, independent source, need not be suppressed. United States v. Moore, 329 F.3d 399, 404 (5th Cir.2003) (citing Murray v. United States, 487 U.S. 533, 537, 108 S.Ct. 2529, 101 L.Ed.2d 472 (1988)). Under the independent source doctrine, if not even the but for test can be met [so that the evidence would not have been found but for police illegality], then clearly the evidence is not a fruit of the prior Fourth Amendment violation. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting 5 Wayne LaFave, SEARCH AND SEIZURE: A TREATISE ON THE FOURTH AMENDMENT § 11.4(a), at 236 (3d ed.1996)). Oliver contends that Agent McReynolds's affidavit in support of the warrant relied on evidence that was illegally obtained. Oliver does not specifically identify the purportedly illegal evidence upon which McReynolds relied. To the extent Oliver refers to the cardboard box and its contents, his argument fails because, as explained above, the search of the box was permissible. To the extent Oliver complains of the original seizure of the laptop, his argument is similarly unavailing. As correctly noted by the district court, unlawfully obtained evidence need not be suppressed if officials later reseize the evidence from a distinct, untainted source. See United States v. Grosenheider, 200 F.3d 321, 327 (5th Cir.2000). Even without mentioning the original seizure of the laptop, the affidavit contains sufficient information to make the resulting warrant a distinct, untainted source, permitting agents to reseize and search the laptop. In her affidavit, McReynolds relies on information provided by Oliver and Henson, who both admitted to using a laptop computer to submit fraudulent unemployment claims. McReynolds also states in the affidavit that Henson revealed the location of the laptopArmstrong's apartment. She also recounts Armstrong's statements that Oliver used the laptop while looking at documents later found by federal agents to contain identifying information for various individuals. In this circumstance, the affidavit contained sufficient independent information to make the resulting warrant a distinct, untainted source that permitted the agents to reseize and search the laptop lawfully. Oliver also argues that the federal agents were improperly motivated to seek the warrant by information they obtained through a warrantless search of the computer on November 21, 2008, the day after it was initially seized. There is no basis for this assertion in the record. On July 11, 2008, the district court held a hearing to address computer logs that Oliver argued established that agents had searched the computer before they received the warrant. Based on Postal Inspector Ford's testimony, Oliver's evidence showed only that the computer went through normal hibernation and shut down functions before the date of the warrant. Thus, the district court's conclusion that no search occurred is not clearly erroneous. See Menchaca-Castruita, 587 F.3d at 289.