In this child pornography prosecution, the District Court reviewed the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation denying the Defendant’s Motion to Suppress. The Defendant’s IP address was identified by law enforcement as one that previously accessed child pornography through a peer-to-peer network.
Once law enforcement liked that IP address to a specific internet service provider, law enforcement served a summons on the provider requiring production of customer/subscriber information for that IP address during the relevant time period. The provider complied, which led to the defendant’s address. Based on this information, the agent applied for and received a search warrant for the defendant’s residence, which led to the discovery of child pornography on the defendant’s devices.
The crux of the Motion for our purposes is that the Defendant’s subscriber information is protected under Carpenter. The District Court rejected this argument, holding that the third party doctrine applies.
The case is United States v. McCutchin, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36811, 2019 WL 1075544 D. AZ March 7, 2019.