Court Opinion

ID: 9795857
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:40:15.85928+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:37:45.106506
License: Public Domain

McFarland, C.J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree with the majority that probable cause and exigent circumstances excused the warrantless seizure of the defendant’s computer. I further agree with the majority’s conclusion that, as a general rule, a warrant is required to search the contents of a computer hard drive.
I disagree, however, that a warrant was required for the search in this case. I would hold that the defendant’s voluntary admissions that he had Harrah’s documents in his laptop computer effectively revealed the incriminating contents of the computer hard drive, waiving any privacy interest he had in those documents stored in *743the computer hard drive. With no expectation of privacy in the documents stored in the hard drive, no warrant was necessary to search for those documents and, thus, the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment. For this reason, I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that the invalidity of the warrant requires suppression and, therefore, I dissent from the reversal of the felony computer crime conviction.
The majority relies on United States v. Carey, 172 F.3d 1268, 1271 (10th Cir. 1999), for the proposition “that a valid warrant is necessary to search the hard drive of a suspect’s personal computer.” That is too broad a reading of the holding in that case. Carey concerned the permissible scope of a computer search pursuant to a warrant authorizing a search for evidence of a specific type of crime. Carey held that when an officer conducting such a search discovers files concerning a crime unrelated to the object of the warrant, the officer must obtain another warrant in order to expand the scope of the search beyond the original authorization. See United States v. Campos, 221 F.3d 1143, 1148 (10th Cir. 2000) (search in Carey unconstitutional because the officer expanded the scope of the justification for search, thereby engaging in an unconstitutional general search).
The court in United States v. Walser, 275 F.3d 981, 986 (10th Cir. 2001), cert. denied 535 U.S. 1069 (2002) (discussing Carey, 172 F.3d at 1275-76) explained the basis for requiring a second warrant to search a computer hard drive beyond the limited scope of the original search warrant:
“Because computers can hold so much information touching on many different areas of a person s life, there is a greater potential for the ‘intermingling’ of documents and a consequent invasion of privacy when police execute a search for evidence on a computer. See [Carey, 172 F.3d] at 1275; see also United States v. Tamura, 694 F.2d 591, 595-96 (9th Cir. 1982). Thus, when officers come across relevant computer files intermingled with irrelevant computer files, they ‘may seal or hold’ the computer pending ‘approval by a magistrate of the conditions and limitations on a further search’ of the computer. Carey, 172 F.3d at 1275. Officers must be clear as to what it is they are seeldng on the computer and conduct the search in a way that avoids searching files of types not identified in the warrant. [Carey, 172 F.3d] at 1276.”
*744Carey (and Walser, which discussed and applied Carey) did not hold that a warrant is necessary to search a computer hard drive. In fact, in an unpublished opinion, the Tenth Circuit specifically rejected such a broad reading of Carey.
“While Fiscus argues that Carey stands for the broad proposition that, absent exigent circumstances, law enforcement may not search a computer without a warrant, our decision in Carey merely stands for the proposition that law enforcement may not expand the scope of their search beyond their original justification.” United States v. Fiscus, 64 Fed. Appx. 157, 164 (10th Cir. 2003) (unpublished).
Further, both the majority opinion and the concurrence stress that the holding is limited to the specific facts of the case. Carey, 172 F.3d at 1276 (“[W]e are quick to note these results are predicated only upon the particular facts of this case.”); 172 F.3d at 1276 (Baldock, J., concurring) (emphasizing that “the questions presented in the case are extremely close calls and, in my opinion, are totally fact driven”).
Carey only applies to situations where the search of a computer hard drive exceeds the scope of the original justification for the search. Carey does not apply where, for example, officers searching a computer pursuant to a warrant for images of child pornography searched only for images of child pornography, and obtained only such images. See Campos, 221 F.3d at 1148. Similarly, in this case, we do not have a situation where officers, straying from the justification for the search, obtained evidence of some other crime. There is no dispute that all of the documents obtained in this search were within the scope of the justification for the lawful seizure, as well as within the scope of the purpose of the search. Thus, Carey does not answer the question in this case — whether a warrant was required to search the hard drive of a computer that is in the lawful possession of the authorities.
In answering that question, commentators and other courts have analogized computers to closed containers for Fourth Amendment purposes.
The general rule with respect to closed containers is well settled. An individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of a closed container, and therefore, lawful seizure of the container does not permit authorities to open it and examine its *745contents without a warrant, or an applicable exception to the warrant requirement. See cf. California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 114 L. Ed. 2d 619, 111 S. Ct. 1982 (1991) (approving warrantless probable cause search of containers within vehicles); Horton v. California, 496 U.S. 128, 141, n.11, 110 L. Ed. 2d 112, 110 S. Ct. 2301 (1990) (seizure of a container “does not compromise the interest in preserving the privacy of its contents because it may only be opened pursuant to either a search warrant ... or one of the well-delineated exceptions to the warrant requirement”); United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 822-23, 72 L. Ed. 2d 572, 102 S. Ct. 2157 (1982); Walter v. United States, 447 U.S. 649, 654-55, 65 L. Ed. 2d 410, 100 S. Ct. 2395 (1980) (The fact that agents were lawfully in possession of boxes of film did not give them authority to search their contents as it is well settled that a law enforcement officer’s authority to seize a container is distinct from the authority to examine its contents.).
If a computer is considered a closed container, then an individual would have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the electronic information stored in his or her computer hard drive, making a warrant necessary to search the hard drive, unless an exception to the warrant requirement applies. The defendant argued before the district court, and now this court, that for Fourth Amendment purposes, a computer is the equivalent of a closed container. Government publications, commentators, and case law support this analogy-
The United States Department of Justice, in its manual on seizing and searching computers, treats computers as closed containers. See Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Criminal Division, United States Department of Justice, Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations (July 2002), <http:/Avww.usdoj.gov/cybercrime/ s&smanual2002.pdf> (for purposes of determining whether one has a reasonable expectation of privacy in information stored in a computer, computers are analogous to closed containers such as a briefcase or file cabinet).
Additionally, commentators have opined that for Fourth Amendment privacy purposes, computers are considered to be closed con-*746tamers. In a 2005 article in the Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, Daniel Benoliel summarized the state of the law on this issue:
“In determining whether an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in information stored in a computer, under a Fourth Amendment analysis, courts have consistently treated the computer like a closed container, such as a briefcase or a file cabinet. ... As individuals generally retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of closed containers, they also generally retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in data held within electronic storage devices. Accordingly, accessing information stored in a computer will ordinarily implicate an owner’s reasonable expectation of privacy in the information.” Benoliel, Law, Geography and Cyberspace: The Case of On-Line Territorial Privacy, 23 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 125,131 (2005).
See also Note, Computer Searches and Seizure, 48 Clev. St. L. Rev. 185, 189 (2000) (computers are “likely to enjoy the same Fourth Amendment protections as other closed containers”); Baron-Evans, When the Government Seizes and Searches Your Client’s Computer, 21 No. 24 Andrews Computer & Internet, Litig. Rep. 14 (2004) (in cases where the computer itself is not an instrumentality of a crime, the computer owner has an expectation of privacy in the records stored on the computer separate from that in the computer itself, akin to closed containers).
Further, there is case law support for treating computers as closed containers. See, e.g., United States v. Barth, 26 F. Supp. 2d 929, 936 (W.D. Tex. 1998) (“Fourth Amendment protection of closed computer files and hard drives is similar to the protection it affords a person’s closed containers and closed personal effects.”); United States v. David, 756 F. Supp. 1385, 1390 (D. Nev. 1991) (computer memo book treated as a closed container for Fourth Amendment protection purposes); United States v. Sissler, 1991 WL 239000 (W.D. Mich. Oct 07, 1991), aff'd 966 F.2d 1455 (6th Cir. 1992) (Table), cert. denied 506 U.S. 1079 (1993) (upholding seizure and off-site search of computer and disks found during execution of residential search warrant for records of drug transactions because “law enforcement officers are permitted to search any container found within the premises if there is reason to believe that the evidence sought pursuant to a warrant is in it”); *747People v. Gall, 30 P.3d 145, 153 (Colo. 2001) (upholding seizure of laptop computers found in closet during execution of residential search warrant because they were “reasonably likely to serve as ‘containers’ for writings, or the functional equivalent of ‘written or printed material,’ of a type enumerated in the warrant”); cf. United States v. Runyan, 275 F.3d 449, 458 (5th Cir. 2001) (assuming without deciding that computer disks are “containers,” and the defendant had an expectation of privacy in the electronic images stored in the disks).
I am aware of the Tenth Circuit’s statement in Carey, cautioning that analogizing computers to containers or filing cabinets may “ ‘oversimplify a complex area of Fourth Amendment doctrines and ignore the realities of massive modem computer storage.’ ” Carey, 172 F.3d at 1275 (quoting Winack, Searches and Seizures of Computers and Computer Data, 8 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 75, 110 [1994]). However, that caution was made in the context of the higher risk posed to personal privacy interests if officers, already lawfully “inside” the computer hard drive, are permitted to expand the authorized scope of a computer search into “exploratory rummaging” through intermingled but unrelated files, documents, and images stored in that computer hard drive. Carey, 172 F.3d at 1272 (stating the Fourth Amendment requires particularity in a search warrant “to prevent a general exploratory rummaging in a person’s belongings”). This same concern is not present when considering the threshold question whether an individual has an expectation of privacy in the contents of the computer hard drive that is separate from the computer itself.
I find the above authorities persuasive and would hold that for purposes of determining whether one has a reasonable expectation of privacy in information stored in a computer hard drive, computers are analogous to closed containers. Accordingly, because a computer owner has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the information stored in his or her computer hard drive, I would hold that, as a general rule, the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant to search the contents of a computer hard drive.
In this case, a warrant was obtained. The majority concludes that the warrant was invalid, and therefore, suppression is required. I *748contend that no warrant was required for the search because the defendant’s incriminating voluntary admissions revealing the contents of his computer hard drive waived his expectation of privacy in the stored Harrah’s documents. With no expectation of privacy violated by the search, there was no Fourth Amendment violation requiring suppression.
The Fourth Amendment is not implicated by a search that does not violate an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy in the object searched. See Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27, 33, 150 L. Ed. 2d 94, 121 S. Ct. 2038 (2001) (quoting California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207, 211, 90 L. Ed. 2d 210, 106 S. Ct. 1809 [1986]) (A Fourth Amendment search does not occur unless “the individual manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the challenged search,” and “society [is] willing to recognize that expectation as reasonable.”); Illinois v. Andreas, 463 U.S. 765, 771, 77 L. Ed. 2d 1003, 103 S. Ct. 3319 (1983) (“If the inspection by police does not intrude upon a legitimate expectation of privacy, there is no ‘search’ subject to the Warrant Clause.”); State v. Mudloff, 29 Kan. App. 2d 1075, 1076-77, 36 P.3d 326 (2001) (individual had no expectation of privacy in use of bathroom stall beyond its intended use; therefore, the warrantless search of the bathroom stall was not unconstitutional).
Although the Fourth Amendment generally protects an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy in the concealed contents of a container, that expectation of privacy is lost when the individual voluntarily reveals the contents of that container to others. On this rationale, courts have held that a suspect’s voluntary incriminating admission disclosing the contents of a closed container permits officers to search the container without a warrant.
In United States v. Cardona-Rivera, 904 F.2d 1149 (7th Cir. 1990), officers lawfully seized from the defendant wrapped packages that they believed were bricks of cocaine. The defendant was read his Miranda rights, and after he waived his rights, the officers asked him what was in the packages. He responded, “[C]oke.” 904 F.2d at 1152. The officers took the packages to the federal building where, without a warrant, they opened them and examined and *749tested the contents. The packages contained cocaine. Cardona-Rivera, 904 F.2d at 1152.
On appeal from the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress, the defendant argued that the packages were searched without a warrant “at a time when and place where it would have been easy for the officers to seek a warrant.” Cardona-Rivera, 904 F.2d at 1155. Judge Richard Posner, writing for the panel, held that the defendant had waived his right to privacy in the contents of the packages, thus obviating the need for a warrant:
“[H]ere the waiver of privacy was direct and explicit. Asked what the packages contained, Luna said 'coke’ (he denied this at the suppression hearing, but the judge disbelieved him). He stripped the cloak of secrecy from the package. It was as if he had unwrapped it and pointed. Once Luna admitted that his package contained a contraband substance, no lawful interest of his could be invaded by the officers’ opening the packages, whether on the spot or later in their office. No purpose would be served by insisting on a warrant in such a case or by setting aside the conviction because of the absence of a warrant.” Cardona-Rivera, 904 F.2d at 1156.
Similar holdings can be found in Commonwealth v. Kondash, 808 A.2d 943, 949 (Pa. Super. 2002) (The defendant’s admission revealing that his closed pouch contained needles was a relinquishment of any expectation of privacy he had therein and therefore, “with no expectation of privacy remaining in the pouch, there can be no constitutional violation associated with its warrantless search.”); State v. Ludtke, 306 N.W.2d 111, 114 (Minn. 1981) (“[The] defendant, by volunteering what the contents were, had implicitly signaled that he no longer had any expectation of privacy in die satchel. . . . Under the circumstances, we hold [the officer] was justified in searching the satchel without a warrant, even if it may be said that the satchel was the functional equivalent of luggage.”).
Although we have not had occasion to adopt this rationale in Kansas, we have recognized that an individual has no constitutionally protected expectation of privacy in information he or she voluntarily conveys to third parties. United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, 48 L. Ed. 2d 71, 96 S. Ct. 1619 (1976) (no reasonable expectation of privacy in bank records because the information in the *750records had been voluntarily given to the bank, and the records were the property of the bank); State v. Schultz, 252 Kan. 819, 834, 850 P.2d 818 (1993) (following Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 61 L. Ed. 2d 220, 99 S. Ct. 2577 [1979] [no reasonable expectation of privacy in phone numbers dialed by owner of a telephone because act of dialing the number effectively reveals the number to tire phone company]).
Further, this rule is a natural extension of the United States Supreme Court’s recognition that the warrant requirement for closed containers should not apply where the nature of the container permits an inference as to its contents. Arkansas v. Sanders, 442 U.S. 753, 764 n.13, 61 L. Ed. 2d 235, 99 S. Ct. 2586 (1979) (containers which, by their outward appearance, permit an inference as to their contents cannot support any reasonable expectation of privacy), overruled on other grounds California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 114 L. Ed. 2d 619, 111 S. Ct. 1982 (1991) (approving warrantless search of containers within vehicles on probable cause); see also 3 LaFave, Search ér Seizure § 5.5(f), pp. 251-60 (4th ed. 2004) (tracing the evolution of the Sanders “footnote 13 exception” to cases holding that incriminating admissions revealing a container’s contents constitute a waiver of the expectation of privacy).
The Tenth Circuit has followed this trend in United States v. Corral, 970 F.2d 719 (10th Cir. 1992). In that case, the court upheld the warrantless search of a lawfully seized opaque container when the circumstances were such that its contents were “a foregone conclusion.” 970 F.2d at 725. The court reasoned that an open container, a transparent container, or a container in which its “ 'distinctive configuration . . . proclaims its contents’ ” does not support a reasonable expectation of privacy. 970 F.2d at 725.
The justification for applying the rule from Cardona-Rivera is stronger than it is in Sanders and Corral, for the waiver of privacy in each of those cases requires an inference as to the contents of the container from its outward appearance, while the Cardona-Rivera rule requires no inference — the suspect expressly revealed the contents. In fact, in Cardona-Rivera, the court held that the defendant’s express admission as to the contents of the packages made it unnecessaiy to determine whether the nature of the pack*751ages allowed an inference as to their contents. Cardona-Rivera, 904 F.2d at 1156.
With these authorities in mind, I now turn to the specific facts in the case before the court.
Kansas State Gaming Agent Darin Altenberg was informed that the defendant, a Sac & Fox casino employee, was in possession of proprietary documents of his former employer, Harrah’s. Agent Altenberg went to the Sac & Fox casino to interview the defendant. When Altenberg and another agent approached the defendant for the interview, he requested that they speak in his office and asked that the door be closed. When Altenberg told the defendant he was being investigated, the defendant was not surprised, as he had heard he was being investigated.
During the interview the following occurred, as set out in the majority opinion:
“Altenberg then asked the defendant if there was any proprietary information belonging to Harrah’s on the laptop in defendant’s office. Defendant responded, I’m not going to he to you guys, I have a lot of shit on my computer from Harrah’s. I created a lot of databases when I worked for Harrah’s Prairie Band when I was the Surveillance Director, I still have all of those databases. I made them, so in my opinion, they belong to me.’ When asked what ‘a lot of shit’ meant, defendant replied, ‘I just have a lot of shit from Harrah’s. Some of it’s promotional shit, some of it’s maybe stuff I shouldn’t have.’
“Defendant denied Altenberg access to his laptop, stating he did not use the laptop for work purposes. He later admitted, however, that he did use it for work. When asked again, defendant again denied access to his laptop, stating there was information on the laptop that defendant did not want Altenberg to see. Altenberg left defendant’s office, contacted his superior, and decided to seize the laptop immediately. Altenberg thought the information contained on the laptop could be destroyed easily and might never be recovered if he did not act quicldy.
“When Altenberg returned to defendant’s office, defendant was on the telephone with an attorney for the casino. Defendant informed the attorney that the agents wanted to take the laptop. The attorney asked why, and defendant responded, Well, I have stuff from Harrah’s on it.’ The attorney asked, ‘You have stuff from Harrah’s on your personal laptop?’ Defendant responded, 1 have a lot of shit from Harrah’s on my laptop. I have a lot of numbers and everything else.’ ”
Under these facts, the defendant’s numerous and repeated voluntary incriminating revelations as to the contents of his laptop computer waived his expectation of privacy in the Harrah’s docu*752merits stored in his computer hard drive. With no expectation of privacy in those stored documents, no search warrant was necessary for law enforcement to search his computer hard drive for those documents.
In so stating, I do not intend to imply that the defendant’s waiver of his expectation of privacy in the Harrah’s documents would have given the officers the right to search the hard drive for anything other than the Harrah’s documents. Had the officers not limited their search to finding the Harrah’s documents, and had they found information such as records of drug transactions or child pornography that then led to prosecution for crimes associated with those records or images, the rationale of Carey, limiting the scope of the permissible search in the context of the myriad of highly personal information that may be stored in one’s computer, would be highly applicable. This case does not present that scenario.
For the reasons above stated and under the specific facts herein, I would hold that no warrant was necessary for the search for the Harrah’s documents stored in the computer hard drive. I would affirm the defendant’s felony computer crime conviction.