United States v. Phillip Allen

MEMORANDUM

Defendant-appellant Phillip Allen appeals the district court’s denial of his motions to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a warrant to search his e-mail account. Allen entered a conditional guilty plea to Sexual Exploitation of Children in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251 (a). We affirm.

We review a district court’s denial of a timely motion to suppress evidence de novo, and we review the magistrate’s finding of probable cause to issue a search warrant for clear error. United States v. Battershell, 457 F.3d 1048, 1050 (9th Cir.2006). A magistrate’s finding of probable cause is entitled to “great deference.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 236 , 103 S.Ct. 2317 , 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). “The task of the issuing magistrate is simply to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, ... there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Id. at 238 .

The magistrate did not clearly err in finding probable cause to issue a warrant to search Allen’s e-mail account, entooyung@yahoo.com (the “entooyung account”). Special Agent Barrett’s supporting…