Opinion ID: 183984
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: A.4.d. Independent Source

Text: Even assuming Detective Vanadia illegally opened and examined the contents of the video files in the Kazvid folder, the independent source doctrine applies and removes any taint from this search. [21] Typically, the exclusionary rule requires that we suppress evidence obtained as a result of an illegal search. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 485, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). However, [t]he independent source doctrine serves as an exception to the exclusionary rule and permits the introduction of `evidence initially discovered during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful search, but later obtained independently from activities untainted by the initial illegality.' United States v. Price, 558 F.3d 270, 281 (3d Cir.2009) (quoting Murray v. United States, 487 U.S. 533, 537, 108 S.Ct. 2529, 101 L.Ed.2d 472 (1988)). Here, the District Court concluded that suppression was not required because the inevitable discovery exception to the exclusionary rule applied. [22] For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the independent source doctrine applies to the results of the search executed pursuant to the state search warrant and vitiates any need to suppress evidence of child pornography. Assuming that Detective Vanadia illegally viewed the contents of the videos in the Kazvid folder, we ask whether this illegal search is so intertwined with the eventual acquisition of child pornography from Stabile's hard drives that this evidence must be suppressed. We ask: (1) whether a neutral justice would have issued the search warrant even if not presented with information that had been obtained during an unlawful search and (2) whether the first search [the search of the contents of the eleven video files] prompted the officers to obtain the [subsequent] search warrant. Herrold, 962 F.2d 1131, 1144 (3d Cir.1992); see Price, 558 F.3d at 282. If the answers to these questions are yes and no respectively ... then the evidence seized during the warranted search, even if already discovered in the original entry, is admissible. Herrold, 962 F.2d at 1144. The answer to the first question is yes. After Detective Vanadia executed the state search warrant, Agent Albanese applied for the first federal search warrant. The application for the first federal search warrant cited, as probable cause, the lurid file names Vanadia observed in plain view during his search of the 120 GB hard drive. The application also cited Vanadia's experience that files bearing such names may contain child pornography. Importantly, the warrant application did not mention that Vanadia had viewed the contents of any of the video files. [23] Even assuming that Vanadia illegally viewed the video files' contents, the results of that search did not taint the warrant application Albanese presented to the magistrate. See Price, 558 F.3d at 282 (applying independent source doctrine where warrant was still supported by probable cause even after excising illegally-obtained information). After considering the warrant application, the magistrate issued the first federal search warrant. Therefore, the answer to the first inquiry under the independent source doctrine is clearly yes because a neutral magistrate did, in fact, issue the first federal search warrant. The answer to the second question is no. The contents of the video files, which we presume Detective Vanadia viewed illegally, did not prompt Agent Albanese to apply for the first federal search warrant. In Price, police arrested the defendant after he sold methamphetamine to an undercover police officer. 558 F.3d at 273. A search incident to the arrest revealed items indicative of methamphetamine trafficking. Id. The police then went to the defendant's home, where they asked for, and received, consent to search the home from the defendant's wife. Id. at 274. After searching the home, the police attempted to obtain consent to search the locked basement, but the defendant's wife said she did not have a key. Id. at 275. The officer picked the lock on the basement door, entered the basement, and observed items used to manufacture methamphetamine. Id. Later that day, police applied for and obtained a search warrant, returned to the home, and seized the chemicals related to methamphetamine manufacture from the basement. Id. The defendant moved to suppress the items seized from the basement on the grounds that the police lacked valid consent to enter the basement, and the district court denied the relevant portion of the motion. Id. at 276. On appeal, we held that regardless of the validity of the wife's consent, the items seized from the basement were admissible under the independent source doctrine. Id. at 280. First, the illegally observed evidence did not prompt the officers to apply for the search warrant. Id. at 282. Second, the search warrant contained sufficient probable cause from independent sources even though the affidavit in support of the warrant application referenced the items illegally discovered in the basement. Id. Even without this evidence, given the history of the investigation, such as the facts that the defendant had incriminating paraphernalia on his person at the time of arrest and that paraphernalia was found in his home, it seemed impossible that the police would not have applied for a warrant to search the basement of the house.... Id. at 282; see also Herrold, 962 F.2d at 1140-41 (It is inconceivable that the police would have Justified the premises without searching the trailer and without arresting [the defendant] since they had information that Herrold, who was known to them as a drug dealer with a record of convictions for violent crimes, had obtained a large quantity of cocaine some of which he sold to the informant.). Therefore, the Price court invoked the independent source doctrine and affirmed the district court's suppression order. Here, there are even more compelling reasons to vitiate the taint of the presumed illegal search than existed in Price. In Price, the search warrant application referenced the illegally observed evidence, but here, as previously mentioned, the warrant application made no mention of the contents of the Kazvid video files. This distinction supports our determination that if the contents of the remaining video files were illegally viewed, they did not prompt Agent Albanese to seek the first federal search warrant. Moreover, as in Price, here the police legally discovered ample additional evidence. While executing the state search warrant, Detective Vanadia lawfully viewed lurid file names indicative of child pornography. In light of this evidence, it would be impossible or inconceivable that Albanese would not have applied for the first federal warrant. See Price, 558 F.3d at 282; Herrold, 962 F.2d at 1140. The answer to the second question in the independent source inquiry i.e., whether the results of the illegal search prompted officers to obtain a subsequent search warrantis no because the lurid file names prompted Albanese to seek the first federal search warrant. Therefore, the independent source doctrine applies, and there would be no reason to suppress the contents of the videos.