USA V. JOSHUA FISHER, No. 20-10098 (9th Cir. 2022)
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Defendants challenged their convictions for various sexual offenses against children, under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Defendants first argued that the district court erred in denying their first motion to suppress because a detective’s affidavit supporting a 2016 warrant to search the residence contained material, intentionally false and/or reckless statements and omissions that misled the issuing judge; specifically, that the affidavit misstated the contents of a CyberTipline Report, drew conclusions unsupported by the Report, and ignored exculpatory factors.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s orders denying Defendants joint motions to suppress evidence. The panel held that Defendants failed to show that the affidavit contained any materially false statements or omissions (much less any such statements knowingly or recklessly made). The panel wrote that Defendants misstated the factual record by insisting that only one IP address was relevant, and that Defendants do not substantively address the results from a Tumblr search warrant referenced in the affidavit, which further supports the probable cause determination.
Defendants further argued that the district court erred in denying their second motion to suppress evidence derived from a 2018 search. The panel held that the district court did not clearly err by finding that Defendants abandoned the devices. The panel wrote that Defendants’ failure to ensure that their brother recovered the devices before the home was sold, and their subsequent failure to take any additional action, is sufficient to support a finding of abandonment, even if Defendants ceased their efforts only because they feared detection by law enforcement.
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