U.S. v. Kienast

In prosecution on receipt and possession of child pornography, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motions to suppress evidence seized though issuance of “NIT” warrant that allowed officials to place special computer code on child pornography website that directed defendants’ computers to provide officials with IP addresses of defendants’ computers, which, in turn, led to issuance of warrants to search defendants’ computers. While defendants argued that searches performed by NIT computer program violated 4^th Amendment, Ct. of Appeals found that good-faith exception to exclusionary rule supported instant denials of said motions to suppress. Ct. rejected defendants’ contention that exclusionary rule did not apply where Magistrate Judge lacked authority to issue said warrant because it extended to people and property outside Magistrate’s district; and (2) instant officials did not execute search in good faith because reasonable official would have known that Magistrate Judge lacked authority to issue NIT warrant outside his or her district. Moreover, Ct. found that officers acted reasonably in preparing affidavit and executing NIT warrant given sophisticated nature of website and difficulty in identifying users of website.