WI: Police had independent source of information of CP to search computer seized in connection with wife’s suicide investigation

Defendant’s wife allegedly committed suicide. In the investigation, the police interviewed their daughter and she said that her mother was using her computer just before her death. The computer was seized as a part of the suicide investigation. Later the ME ruled that it was, in fact, a suicide, but the police kept investigating. Defendant sought return of the computer, but he didn’t seek legal recourse. Later, defendant’s brother reported to the police that defendant had molested his own children. His mother-in-law reported she found DVDs of child pornography on his computer desk at home when she was cleaning the house to rent out. The police initially had probable cause to seize the computers as evidence of the potential suicide. The lengthy seizure of the computers was not unreasonable, and the police had independent sources of information for a search warrant for the contents of the computer. State v. Gant, 2015 Wisc. App. LEXIS 739 (Oct. 9, 2015).