USA v. Keith Joseph Lanzon, No. 09-14535 (11th Cir. 2011)
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Defendant appealed a conviction for attempting to persuade, entice, or coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2422(b). At issue was whether there was sufficient evidence to support defendant's conviction; whether the court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized from his truck; and whether a detective failed to preserve computer evidence in bad faith and instant message transcripts should not have been admitted at trial. The court held that there was sufficient evidence to support defendant's convictions where defendant's actions strongly corroborated his culpability and supported the jury's verdict. The court also held that the district court did not err in denying the motion to suppress where defendant's truck was mobile and the officers had probable cause to search the truck pursuant to the automobile exception. The court further held that defendant failed to provide evidence of bad faith on the part of the detective and that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the transcripts or clearly erred in accepting as fact the detective's authenticating testimony, by rejecting defendant's best evidence objection because there was no showing of bad faith, and by failing to admit the alleged additional parts of the instant message transcripts where there was no evidence of its existence. The court finally held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's proposed jury instructions where the spoliation doctrine had not been recognized in the criminal context.
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