Latest Case: United States v. Suellentrop (Criminal Law)

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United States v. Suellentrop

Docket: 19-1002

Opinion Date: March 26, 2020

Judge: Steven M. Colloton

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress images and videos retrieved from his cell phone. The court held that the district court correctly determined that investigators and prosecutors were permitted to use the images and video from defendant's phone that an acquaintance viewed on his own initiative. In this case, the Fourth Amendment does not extend to private searches that are neither instigated nor performed on behalf of a government entity; defendant's acquaintance acted entirely on his own when he searched defendant's cell phone; and the agents examining the phone went no further than the private search when they examined the phone. As to the remainder of the materials found on the phone, the court held that the state investigators reasonably understood the state warrant to authorize a search of the phone.