## Facts

- AOL detected two outgoing emails sent minutes apart from the address “skippie4u@aol.com,” each containing a known child pornography image.
- AOL reported the image and associated account information (including zip code) through established reporting channels, leading ICE to investigate.
- AOL records showed “skippie4u” was a screen name under a master AOL account registered to Roy Terry, and the “skippie4u” screen name was registered to Brent Terry.
- Investigators corroborated, through mail-delivery information, that Roy and Brent Terry received mail at the master-account address.
- ICE obtained and executed a search warrant at the master-account address and interviewed Roy Terry during the search.
- Roy told agents that Brent lived at 16 Walnut Street, rented from Roy; Brent had a computer there; and Brent used the “Skippie 4U” screen name to access the AOL account from that residence, including at the time of the illegal email transmission.
- Based on Roy’s statements and the account-linkage information, ICE obtained and executed a search warrant for 16 Walnut Street.
- Agents seized computer equipment and storage media from 16 Walnut Street that later contained 123 images and eight videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
- Terry entered a conditional guilty plea to possession of child pornography under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B), reserving the right to appeal denial of his suppression motion.

## Issues

1. Whether the search-warrant affidavit established a sufficient nexus between the intercepted child pornography email activity and Terry’s residence to support probable cause to search 16 Walnut Street.
2. Whether the lack of preserved email text (beyond the image and routing/account information) undermined probable cause or otherwise rendered the search unconstitutional.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress.
- The court held the affidavit provided a substantial basis for finding probable cause to search Terry’s residence, including a sufficient nexus between the offense and 16 Walnut Street.
- The court held that the failure to preserve the full email text did not negate probable cause where the image was identified as known child pornography and was reliably tied to Terry’s account and home computer access.

## Legal Principles

- A warrant is supported by probable cause when, under the totality of the circumstances, there is a fair probability that evidence of a crime will be found in the place to be searched.
- Reviewing courts give great deference to a magistrate’s probable-cause determination and ask whether there was a substantial basis for concluding probable cause existed.
- A sufficient nexus may be shown through reliable facts linking an account used in suspected child-pornography activity to the suspect and to computer access at the suspect’s residence, permitting an inference that relevant digital evidence will be found there.
- Probable cause to search does not require the government to preserve or present every portion of an electronic communication when other reliable information (including identification of a known contraband image and account linkage) supports a fair probability that evidence will be found.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit upheld the residential search warrant because the affidavit connected a known child pornography transmission to Terry’s registered screen name and to his computer use at his home, creating a fair probability that evidence would be found there; the absence of preserved email text did not defeat probable cause.


United States v. Terry, 522 F.3d 645 (6th Cir. 2008)