US v. Allen, No. 09-50283

Child Pornography Conviction Affirmed

In US v. Allen, No. 09-50283, the court affirmed defendant's conviction for Shipping by Computer, Visual Depictions of Minors Engaging in Sexually Explicit Conduct, holding that 1) even though a warrant was not sufficiently particular, the fruits of the challenged search were admissible under the good-faith exception; 2) the district court did not err when it found the information in the warrant was not stale; and 3) the district court did not err in finding the description of the pictures at issue supported the finding of probable cause.

As the court wrote:  "David Roger Allen (Allen) appeals the district court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence seized in an allegedly illegal search. He argues the search warrant was overbroad, lacked particularity, was based on stale information and was not supported by probable cause. Allen, a college professor and first time offender, was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 28, 2008. The indictment charged Allen with two Counts of Shipping by Computer, Visual Depictions of Minors Engaging in Sexually Explicit Conduct (Counts One and Two) and another Count charging Receiving Matter Containing Visual Depictions of Minors Engaging in Sexually Explicit Conduct (Count Three)."

Related Resources

• Read the Fifth Circuit's Decision in US v. Allen, No. 09-50283