Opinion ID: 3013929
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Detective Hinson

Text: Canvassing the neighborhood on the night of the mobile home search, several residents told police that Myers’ wife Phyllis was having sex with children. Because of this, Detectives Hinson and Gahan decided to review the seized videotapes to determine whether they involved child pornography. The review lasted one and a half weeks. The District Court determined the decision to review the materials was objectively reasonable and the detectives were following orders by their superiors. 12 Myers claims Detective Hinson acted unreasonably in reviewing the tapes after the autopsy revealed Valeria was not abused sexually. He contends there is a factual dispute as to whether it was Detective Hinson or her superior who made the ultimate decision to retain and review the tapes and that this issue should have been submitted to the jury. But this determination is immaterial, as the decision to retain and review the videotapes was objectively reasonable. As the District Court stated, “given the unfortunate frequency of this type of report today, the authorities would have been loath to summarily dismiss such allegations.” Myers, 86 F. Supp. 2d at 409. The detectives reviewed the tapes to follow up on the allegations made by the neighbors, and they offered to return the tapes as soon as the review was completed. We see no error.