United States Ninth Circuit

In a criminal prosecution for possession of child pornography, grant of a motion to suppress evidence seized from defendant's laptop while entering the US border at the Los Angeles International Airport is reversed where: 1) the district court's holding that particularized suspicion is required to search a laptop based on cases involving the search of the person was erroneous; 2) there was nothing in the record to indicate that the manner in which officers conducted the search was "particularly offensive" and defendant's analogy to a search of a home based on a laptop's storage capacity is without merit; and 3) the First Amendment does not require a higher level of suspicion for searches of "expressive material."

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/18/2007
• Decided 04/21/2008
• Published 04/21/2008

Judges

• Before:  DIARMUID F. O'SCANNLAIN and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges, and MICHAEL W. MOSMAN, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Steve Kim, Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Appeals Section, Los Angeles, CA, argued the cause for the plaintiff-appellant and filed briefs;  George S. Cardona, United States Attorney, and Thomas P. O'Brien, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Criminal Division, Los Angeles, CA, were on the briefs.


• For Appellees:
  
• Marilyn E. Bednarski, Kaye, McLane, & Bednarski, LLP, Pasadena, California, argued the cause for the defendant-appellee and filed a brief;  Kevin Lahue, Kaye, McLane, & Bednarski, LLP, Pasadena, CA, was on the brief.