Opinion ID: 3165963
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Search-Warrant Affidavit

Text: Task Force Officer Chris Cornwell, a seven-year veteran Deputy with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office who had been assigned to Homeland Security Investigations for one year, drafted the search-warrant affidavit provided to the reviewing magistrate judge. The affidavit indicated that in 2011, Homeland Security agents began investigating users of an internationally hosted website that allows individuals to upload photographs and post comments. Agents created covert accounts on the website to track individuals suspected of child exploitation. In the course of their investigation, agents identified Mr. Edwards as a user who had uploaded suspicious, in some cases sexually suggestive, images of an approximately ten-year-old girl who was known to the investigations team 2 from other photographs circulating on the internet. Search Warrant Aff. 18, ¶ 36 (Dkt. No. 23, Ex. A).1 Mr. Edwards participated in the website under the screenname “legsluv802” with an associated email address. Log files revealed that this email address—and corresponding user profile—was used to log in from an IP address associated with Mr. Edwards at his home street address. Agents accessed Mr. Edwards’s profile and found he had posted hundreds of images to the website, all depicting the same blond-haired, prepubescent girl. The 22-page affidavit alleged, in pertinent part, the following: • Mr. Edwards shared 715 images in 28 albums of the same prepubescent girl, in some cases clothed and in others only scantily clad, in various suggestive poses on the website. Id. at 18–20, ¶¶ 37–41. • Viewers of these images left disturbing comments indicating they were sexually attracted to the girl in the images, and Mr. Edwards left supportive responses, some of which suggested he was also sexually attracted to the girl.2 Id. at 18–20, ¶¶ 38–42. ________________ 1 All references to district court docket numbers will be in the format “Dkt. No. __” and refer to the district court filings in this case. 2 For example, in response to a user comment, “Perfect little booty,” Mr. Edwards stated, “Glad you like her”; in response to a user comment “hot hot hot,” Mr. Edwards stated, “Thanks, I agree”; in response to a user comment, “sexy!! Is she yours?,” Mr. Edwards commented, “No, wish she was though”; in response to a user comment, “OMG! What’s not to like?? She is yummy,” Mr. Edwards commented, “I agree she is yummy”; and in response to the comment, “Sexy picture, great shape to her ass,” Mr. Edwards commented, “this is one of my favorite pics of the album, thanks.” The affidavit also included reference to disturbing comments by other users to which Mr. Edwards had not directly responded, such as “great album, it’s hard to keep my comments clean with this hard thing in my hand” and “I love her, I just wish I could see some camel toe, that would send me over the edge.” Search Warrant Aff. 18–20, ¶¶ 37–42 (Dkt. No. 23, Ex. A). 3 • One photograph showed the girl lying on the floor leaning on her arm and wearing “a pink and blue patterned leotard and sheer ballet skirt.” The image was “focused on the child’s genital area,” and her legs were crossed at the ankles. Id. at 18, ¶ 38. • One album contained 17 photographs with the girl wearing shiny red underwear, a red dress that was open down the front, and a red and white hat. One picture in that album depicted her “sitting with her legs spread apart” and smiling at the camera, although the affidavit does not allege that this photograph focused on the genital area. Id. at 19, ¶ 39. • Another album contained 25 images showing the girl dressed in what appeared to be a garland strand around her chest and another around her genital area. One photograph in that album depicted her sitting with her legs spread apart. Id. at 19–20, ¶ 40. • One album contained 42 photographs of the girl wearing a blue shirt and a woman’s thong underwear revealing her entire buttocks. One picture in the album showed the girl “sitting on the floor with her legs bent up and spread apart, showing part of her buttock and barely covering her genital area.” Id. at 20, ¶ 41. • In Officer Cornwell’s training and experience, and based on his “discussions with other investigators who are knowledgeable in the field of Child Pornography,” he was aware “most individuals who collect child pornography are sexually attracted to children” and those who possess “child pornography” are “highly likely” also to possess legal “child erotica” and to participate in online forums “catering to their sexual preference for children thereby providing a sense of acceptance and validation within a community.” Id. at 15– 16, ¶¶ 26, 28, 29. Although Officer Cornwell described the photographs, he did not attach copies of them to the affidavit. The government concedes that agents investigating the website did not observe Mr. Edwards posting or viewing child pornography as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8), Resp. Br. 16; rather, the government describes the photographs he uploaded as “child erotica.” Resp. Br. 15. In turn, the search warrant affidavit defined child erotica as 4 “materials or items that are sexually arousing to persons having a sexual interest in minors but that are not, in and of themselves, obscene or that do not necessarily depict minors in sexually explicit poses or positions.” Search Warrant Aff. 4, ¶ 6.a (Dkt. No. 23, Ex. A). In the affidavit, Officer Cornwell concluded “there is probable cause to believe that [Mr. Edwards] has received, possessed, and/or transmitted child pornography.” Id. at 1, ¶ 3. He therefore sought a warrant to search Mr. Edwards’s home—including his computer—for evidence related to the possession of child pornography. Id. at 1–2, ¶ 3. On the basis of the information contained in the affidavit, the magistrate judge agreed there was probable cause to believe Mr. Edwards possessed child pornography at his home. Accordingly, the magistrate judge issued the search warrant, which, when executed on Mr. Edwards at his residence, resulted in the discovery of thousands of images and videos of child pornography.