United States v. Franz, No. 13-2406 (3d Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseEquinox, a wilderness-guide, displayed website photographs, including one of Franz with a wooly mammoth tusk. The Bureau of Land Management sent an undercover agent on an Equinox expedition. Franz participated and volunteered that he had gone on 14 Arctic expeditions and had tusks in his Pennsylvania house. He offered to create souvenir CDs for others. BLM obtained a search warrant for Franz’s house, describing, on attachments, the tusks, other illegal artifacts, photographs, emails, and related information on computers or electronic storage devices. The warrant, affidavit, and accompanying papers were sealed to protect cooperating witnesses and the secrecy of ongoing investigations. Agents executed the warrant and provided Franz with a copy of its face sheet. Franz did not receive copies of attachments, although he requested them. The agent mistakenly believed that, because the warrant was sealed, he could not reveal the attachments. He explained the circumstances giving rise to the warrant and described items authorized to be seized. During the search, agents saw framed photographs of young, nude girls and pamphlets containing images of nude minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Agents collected the items in plain view, examined a computer, saw indications of child pornography, and seized the computer. The FBI obtained a warrant to search the electronic storage devices. Franz pled guilty to theft of government property and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The district court denied a motion to suppress in the prosecution for receipt of child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2252(a)(2). Franz was convicted. The Third Circuit affirmed. The agent had no intention to wrongfully conceal the purpose of the search; withholding the attachments was a “reasonable misunderstanding.” No appreciable deterrent effect would be gained by applying the exclusionary rule.
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