United States v. McCarty, No. 09-10504 (9th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThis is an interlocutory government appeal from the district court's suppression of all evidence obtained as a result of an airport search of defendant's checked luggage at Hilo International Airport. The government argued that the evidence from defendant's bag, which included, among other things, almost five dozen photographs of nude and partially nude minors. Defendant contended, and the district court agreed, that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents turned a routine administrative search for explosives into an unauthorized investigatory search for contraband. The court, however, vacated the order suppressing the evidence obtained as a result of the airport screening and the follow-on consent- and warrant-based searches of defendant's computer and other materials where the viewing of the photographs from the envelope at issue was justified by and part of the lawful administrative search and where the development of a secondary desire to confirm that the photographs evidenced contraband did not invalidate that search. The court also held that the district court's probable cause approach was erroneous and remanded with instructions for the district court to decide what materials could be considered in determining whether probable cause existed to arrest defendant and to determine whether that evidence was "sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the petitioner had committed or was committing an offense."
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on September 9, 2011.
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