Opinion ID: 165980
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The motion to suppress the contents of the safe

Text: 10 The district court denied Dr. Soderstrand's motion to suppress the contents of the safe, concluding that the police properly obtained a warrant to search the safe after acting upon a tip from Al-Harake, who had observed the safe's contents. The court rejected Dr. Soderstrand's contention that Al-Harake's initial search of the safe violated the Fourth Amendment, concluding that although Al-Harake was employed by a state university, she was acting as a private person, not on behalf of the Government or the State, when she first opened the safe and perused its contents. The district court also concluded that even if the search warrant was not constitutionally valid, it was not so facially invalid that the police could not have reasonably relied on it and acted in good faith by searching the contents of the safe pursuant to it. 11 In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, this court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party and accepts the district court's factual findings unless clearly erroneous. United States v. Jackson, 381 F.3d 984, 988 (10th Cir.2004). The ultimate determination of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, however, is reviewed de novo. Id. This court also reviews de novo the district court's legal conclusions regarding the sufficiency of the search warrant. United States v. Campos, 221 F.3d 1143, 1146 (10th Cir.2000). 12 We will now set out the substance of Dr. Soderstrand's objections to the validity of the search warrant and the evidence its execution produced. Dr. Soderstrand argues that the search warrant was facially deficient because it alleged only that the CD contained in the safe depicted nude children. The statutory definition of child pornography we are concerned with requires that images depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, such as graphic or simulated lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area. 18 U.S.C. § 2256(2)(B)(iii). It is true that other circuits have concluded that depictions of mere nudity is not sufficient to constitute child pornography; rather, the nudity must be depicted in a lascivious manner in order to be criminal. See United States v. Horn, 187 F.3d 781, 789 (8th Cir.1999) (nudity alone does not suffice; there must be both an exhibition of the genital area and such exhibition must be lascivious); United States v. Villard, 885 F.2d 117, 124 (3rd Cir.1989) (noting that the statute requires more than mere nudity because the phrase exhibition of the genitals or pubic area in § 2256(2)(E) is qualified by the word lascivious.). As a result, Dr. Soderstrand urges, the warrant did not allege that the safe contained evidence of an actual crime, only that it contained an image which, absent further description, was not presumptively illegal to possess, and arguably was even protected by the First Amendment. 13 Dr. Soderstrand further argues that the impetus for and sole source of information supporting the search warrant were the observations of Al-Harake, which were relayed first to Dean Reid, and then by Reid to Officer Crites. According to Dr. Soderstrand, Officer Crites's reliance on Reid's representation of Al-Harake's observations was nothing more than third party hearsay (Aplt. Br. at 6) and insufficient to support a search warrant. 14 Finally, Dr. Soderstrand argues, the basis for Al-Harake's observation was her own allegedly unconstitutional search of the safe. Al-Harake was an employee of Oklahoma State University, which is funded and administered by the State of Oklahoma. Dr. Soderstand urges that this means Al-Harake was a state actor. Further, Dr. Soderstand argues that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding the contents of the safe; he analogizes the safe to a purse or a briefcase, for which the Supreme Court recognized in O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709, 716, 107 S.Ct. 1492, 94 L.Ed.2d 714 (1987) a heightened expectation of privacy, even in the workplace context. 2 As a result, Dr. Soderstrand argues that the above factors rendered the search warrant that was later issued by the magistrate judge so lacking in probable cause that officers could not claim reasonable reliance on it under the good faith exception recognized in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). 15 We are not persuaded by Dr. Soderstrand's arguments, which we have noted above. Even if we assume that Dr. Soderstrand had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the safe, which he never identified as belonging to him and which he left unattended in a common storage room accessible to a number of employees, we find that Al-Harake was not a state actor in her initial search of the safe, and the later search of the safe by law enforcement officers was supported by a valid search warrant or the officers' good faith reliance on that warrant under Leon, supra. 16 An affidavit establishes probable cause for a search warrant if the totality of the information it contains establishes the fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place. See United States v. Rice, 358 F.3d 1268, 1274 (10th Cir.2004). Although we review the district court's ruling on the sufficiency of the search warrant de novo, we do not review the issuing judge's determination of probable cause de novo. Instead, this court grants the magistrate's determination of probable cause great deference such that we ask only whether the issuing magistrate had a `substantial basis' for determining probable cause existed. United States v. Le, 173 F.3d 1258, 1265 (10th Cir.1999); United States v. Wittgenstein, 163 F.3d 1164, 1172 (10th Cir.1998). 17 The affidavit in question indicated that Al-Harake had opened the safe and examined its contents, that the safe contained photographs and computer disks, that on one of the computer disks was an image of naked children, that Al-Harake contacted the Dean, and the Dean contacted the police. This was sufficient for the issuing judge to reasonably conclude that images of child pornography might reasonably be expected to be contained within the computer disks, CDs or other data storage devices contained in the safe. Neither Horn, 187 F.3d supra, nor Villard, 885 F.2d supra, are apposite to this case, because both of those cases involved the quantum of evidence at trial. As the Supreme Court noted in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983): 18 the quanta ... of proof appropriate in ordinary judicial proceedings are inapplicable to the decision to issue a warrant. Finely-tuned standards such as proof beyond a reasonable doubt or by a preponderance of the evidence, useful in formal trials, have no place in the magistrate's decision. While an effort to fix some general, numerically precise degree of certainty corresponding to probable cause may not be helpful, it is clear that only the probability, and not a prima facie showing, of criminal activity is the standard of probable cause. 19 Id. at 235, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (citations omitted). 20 We also find without merit Dr. Soderstrand's argument that Al-Harake was a Government actor whose initial search of the safe violated Dr. Soderstrand's Fourth Amendment rights. While Al-Harake may be an employee of the Government due to her State employment at OSU, she was in this case acting solely on her own account. To determine whether a private person's search becomes a Government search, the court examines (1) whether the Government knew of and acquiesced in the intrusive conduct, and (2) whether the person searching intended to assist law enforcement efforts or to further his [or her] own ends. United States v. Souza, 223 F.3d 1197, 1201 (10th Cir.2000). Dr. Soderstrand does not contend that law enforcement officers coerced, dominated or directed Al-Harake, or that she otherwise conducted her search pursuant to any law enforcement or other governmental objective. Rather, as he admits, Al-Harake simply became curious about the safe and its contents. Aplt. Br. At 19. 21 Finally, even if the search warrant was not valid, the police officers who acted on the warrant nonetheless did so in good faith. When officers execute a search warrant in reasonably good faith reliance on its validity, evidence obtained through the warrant will not be suppressed even if the search warrant is ultimately determined to be invalid. See Leon, 468 U.S. supra at 922, 104 S.Ct. 3405. Just as reviewing courts give `great deference' to the decisions of judicial officers who make probable cause determinations, police officers should be entitled to rely upon the probable-cause determination of a neutral magistrate when defending an attack on their good faith for either seeking or executing a search warrant. United States v. Tuter, 240 F.3d 1292, 1300 (10th Cir.2001) (citation omitted). 22 Here, the police did everything they were supposed to do. They were made aware that there may be evidence of a crime (possession of child pornography) contained in the safe. Rather than opening it immediately, they secured it, presented the information they had available to a neutral magistrate, and finally conducted a search of the safe only upon the magistrate's approval. Dr. Soderstrand introduced no countervailing evidence of any bad faith conduct by the police officers in question. As a result, even were Dr. Soderstrand's objections sufficient to cast doubt on the validity of the search warrant, he would not be entitled to the exclusionary remedy he seeks.