## Facts

- Law enforcement conducted an undercover internet investigation in a chat room associated with child pornography.
- An FBI agent, using an assumed screen name, engaged in a chat with a user who identified himself as “B. Simpson” and provided a street address and email address.
- The chat included explicit discussion of child pornography and statements indicating the user possessed many such images; the parties also discussed a potential exchange involving a diskette of explicit images.
- A Tulsa police detective verified the identifying information and obtained a state search warrant for Simpson’s residence.
- Officers executed the warrant and seized Simpson’s computer, multiple diskettes, videotapes, and documents; child-pornography images were found in computer files.
- A federal grand jury indicted Simpson on two counts of receiving child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2).
- Before trial, Simpson moved to suppress the seized evidence and sought a continuance to secure a computer expert; both requests were denied.
- At trial, the government introduced a printout of the chat-room conversation and testimony linking the online identifiers to Simpson, including papers found at the residence containing the agent’s screen name and related information.

## Issues

1. Whether the search warrant was supported by probable cause and executed within its lawful scope.
2. Whether the chat-room transcript and related testimony were properly admitted, including whether the transcript was adequately authenticated and whether hearsay rules were satisfied.
3. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Simpson knowingly received child pornography.
4. Whether denial of a continuance to obtain an expert witness was an abuse of discretion resulting in unfair prejudice.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed Simpson’s convictions on both counts.
- The court held the warrant affidavit established probable cause and the seizure of computer-related items fell within the warrant’s scope.
- The court held the chat transcript was properly authenticated through circumstantial evidence connecting the online participant to Simpson and was properly admitted under the rules of evidence.
- The court held the circumstantial evidence, viewed in the government’s favor, permitted a rational jury to find knowing receipt of child pornography beyond a reasonable doubt.
- The court held the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a continuance because Simpson failed to show specific prejudice from the absence of the proposed expert.

## Legal Principles

- Probable cause for a search warrant is assessed under the totality of the circumstances, with substantial deference to the issuing magistrate’s determination.
- Digital evidence and internet communications may be authenticated under Federal Rule of Evidence 901 through circumstantial evidence linking an online identity to a person (e.g., matching address/email and corroborating physical evidence).
- A defendant’s own statements in electronic communications may be admitted as party admissions and may also be admissible when offered to explain investigative steps rather than for the truth of asserted matters.
- Sufficiency review requires viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government; circumstantial evidence can support conviction if it permits reasonable inferences of guilt.
- Denial of a continuance is reviewed for abuse of discretion; the defendant must show specific, material prejudice from the denial.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the search and evidentiary rulings and concluded that the circumstantial proof linking Simpson to the chat-room communications and to the illicit images on his computer was enough to support convictions for knowing receipt of child pornography, and that the refusal to continue the trial was not an abuse of discretion absent a concrete showing of prejudice.


United States v. Simpson, 152 F.3d 1241 (10th Cir. 1998)