United States v. Taylor

The FBI obtained a warrant from a magistrate in the Eastern District of Virginia to use a computer code called Network Investigative Technique (NIT) that transmitted user information to the FBI from accounts accessing a child pornographic site. Agents used the information to obtain search warrants from a magistrate in the Northern District of Alabama for Defendant’s residences and electronic hardware. Defendant’s moved to suppress evidence arguing that the magistrate judge lacked the authority to issue an NIT warrant.

The court denied the motion. The court held that the NIT warrant authorizing the searches of the user accounts exceeded the Virginia magistrate’s authority under Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b) and unlawful under the Fourth Amendment, because the warrant allowed searches of nationwide account accessing the site. However, the court also held that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule can apply in circumstances involving void warrants authorizing complex technology searches. The warrant application did state that the property being searched was the FBI facility in Virginia conducting the NIT search, and the officer’s general explanation of the search was not deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct requiring the evidence to be excluded.

Supplemental Appellant’s Letter Brief

Opinion