United States of America v. Aaron Gordon Holmes

Phoenix, Arizona criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of child pornography.

This case involced a child-pornography investigation of

two CyberTipline Reports that the National Center for

Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) forwarded to the

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). An agent

investigating one of the tips viewed two images that

NCMEC received from Facebook without a warrant. One of

the images that the agent viewed matched the digital

identification, known as a hash value, of an image that was

previously reported to NCMEC as depicting child

exploitation. Viewing the images led the agent to, among

other things, obtain a search warrant for Defendant Aaron

Holmes's residence. Holmes was present during the search,

he made incriminating statements to law enforcement, and

numerous illicit images were found on his cellphone.

Holmes moved to suppress this evidence, arguing that it was

obtained because the agent unlawfully viewed the Facebook

images. The Government does not dispute that the agent

unlawfully viewed these images, but it argues that

suppression is unwarranted because two exceptions to the

Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement apply: officer

good faith and inevitable discovery.

Denial of Defendant's motion to suppress reversed.