CA8: Plain view of cell phone screen supported seizure of phone

The 75 day delay in getting the IP address and a 51 day delay after associating the IP address with defendant in a child pornography search warrant case did not make the warrant stale. Defendant turned on his phone in the presence of the police and they could see what was on the screen. That was a plain view of that image justifying seizure of the phone. United States v. Morgan, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 21453 (8th Cir. Dec. 1, 2016).

30 day wire order to record face-to-face conversations in defendant’s home was open ended and unreasonable. The state wiretap act doesn’t contemplate such open interceptions and the Fourth Amendment would generally apply and make the recordings unreasonable. The state supreme court is asked to take this case. Commonwealth v. Katona, 2016 PA Super 269, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 715 (Dec. 2, 2016) (dissent).*