D. Iowa [N.D.] | U.S. District Courts

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D. Iowa [N.D.]

The following is a chronological list of opinions issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Iowa [N.D.] that involve or touch on some aspect of computer forensics. Every effort is being made to locate relevant decisions; however, this list is intended as a research aid only, and should not be considered definitive. If you have any suggestions for decisions that should be added to this list, please email them to me using the contact form.

Reminder: These case digests are provided for informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal advice. Anyone conducting legal research on a particular topic or in a specific jurisdiction is advised to supplement these materials with their own efforts or those of a qualified attorney whom they have hired for that purpose.

2010

U.S. v. Heggebo, No. 10-CR-16-LRR (N.D. Iowa 9-14-2010) — Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of child exploitation and one count of possession of child pornography, pending a ruling on his objections to the report and recommendation of the Magistrate Judge. Defendant moved to suppress evidence gathered pursuant to a search warrant, arguing that there was no probable cause for the issuance of the warrant. Specifically, defendant challenged police reliance on a confidential informant, who reported seeing a video of child pornography in defendant's apartment. The Magistrate Judge, however, concluded that the CI was credible and that her report was sufficiently detailed to support issuance of a warrant. The District Court upheld the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation (apart from some irrelevent typographical errors noted by defendant).

U.S. v. Stark, No. 09-CR-2032-LRR (N.D.Iowa 8-9-2010) -- Defendant pled guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography. At sentencing, defendant asked the District Court to merge the counts, arguing that the initial indictment was duplicitous. The District Court refused to do so, noting that possession of child pornography on different devices and/or media can support separate counts of possession.

U.S. v. Heggebo, No. CR10-0016 (N.D. Iowa 7-7-2010) -- A detailed discussion by U.S. Magistrate of the probable cause required to examine a video camera and cell phone. Police received information from a confidential informant about a home-made child pornography video on defendant's video camera; separately, an individual turned in a lost cell phone containing a video of "an older man [identified as defendant] videotaping a naked, prepubescent minor girl in the shower." Search warrants were granted for both devices, and defendant moved to suppress images and videos of child pornography recovered from both devices. Magistrate found that under the relatively generous 8th Circuit standard, there was adequate probable cause for the issuance of each warrant, and that even if not, the Leon good faith exception applies in both cases. He recommended denial of defendant's motion to suppress.