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Comments offAudio of Wednesday’s oral arguments at CAAF is available at the following links:
United States v. Richards, No. 16-0727/AF (CAAFlog case page): Oral argument audio.
United States v. Gurczynski, No. 17-0139/AR (CAAFlog case page): Oral argument audio.
Comments offCAAF will hear oral argument in the certified Army case of United States v. Gurczynski, No. 17-0139/AR (CAAFlog case page), on Wednesday, March 15, 2017, after the argument in Richards. A single issue continues an interlocutory Government appeal of a military judge’s ruling suppressing evidence:
Whether the military judge erred in suppressing evidence of child pornography a digital forensic examiner discovered during a search for appellee’s communications with a child victim.
Private (E-1) Gurczynski is charged with two specifications of wrongful possession of child pornography, and the suppressed evidence is the images that are the subject of the specifications. These charges are tangentially related to Gurczynski’s commission of sexual offenses with a child (and other offenses) to which he pleaded guilty in 2014 (CCA op. here). The images were discovered on devices seized from Gurczynski pursuant to a warrant that authorized a search for evidence of communications with the child victim.
In his ruling suppressing the images the military judge found that:
“[SA CJP] opened item 18 – the thumb drive – and saw several file names of videos normally associated with child pornography” and “[SA CJP] immediately suspected that these video files were child pornography.” (JA 167) (emphasis added). The military judge did not find SA CJP saw an image preview indicative of child pornography, nor did he find that SA CJP’s suspicion was based on an image preview. (JA 167).
The military judge also found that “[w]ithout seeking or obtaining a new search warrant, [SA CJP] opened one file and viewed it and determined that, based upon his professional experience in such matters, the video was child pornography.” (JA 167).
Appellee’s Br. at 10. The military judge determined that this action exceeded the scope of the warrant and suppressed the resulting images. The Army CCA affirmed. Gurczynski’s brief relies heavily on the military judge’s finding of fact as a basis to affirm the suppression.
The Army Appellate Government Division, however, asserts that the military judge got the facts wrong:
Comments offRight on the heels of CAAF’s grant in Richards (discussed here) comes this certification by the Judge Advocate General of the Army yesterday:
No. 17-0139/AR. United States, Appellant v. Justin M. Gurczyski, Appellee. CCA 20160402. Notice is hereby given that a certificate for review of the decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals was filed under Rule 22 on this date on the following issue:
WHETHER THE MILITARY JUDGE ERRED IN SUPPRESSING EVIDENCE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY A DIGITAL FORENSIC EXAMINER DISCOVERED DURING A SEARCH FOR APPELLEE’S COMMUNICATIONS WITH A CHILD VICTIM.
The Army CCA’s opinion is available here.
The accused is charged with two specifications of wrongful possession of child pornography, and the suppressed evidence is the images that are the subject of the specifications. These charges are tangentially related to the accused’s commission of sexual offenses with a child (and other offenses) to which he pleaded guilty in 2014 (CCA op. here). The images were discovered on a flash drive and a hard drive seized from the accused pursuant to a warrant in connection with those other charges but not actually searched until after the guilty pleas. The warrant authorized a search for evidence that the accused communicated with his child victim. During the search, however:
[W]hen SA CP opened the thumb drive during the DFE, he saw several file names of videos normally associated with child pornography, as well as a photo of the appellant. SA CP, suspecting the video files contained child pornography, and without obtaining a new or expanded search warrant, opened one of the files and concluded, based on his professional experience, that it was child pornography. After that, SA CP searched other media seized from appellant’s home and found additional child pornography on a computer hard drive.
Slip op. at 3. “Based on these facts, the military judge concluded CID exceeded the scope of the warrant in searching the thumb drive and granted appellant’s motion to suppress the child pornography found on the thumb drive and computer hard drive.” Slip op. at 3. The CCA affirmed.
