D.Idaho: US Probation may enlist LEOs in conducting supervision search of cell phone

U.S. Probation was supervising defendant and they suspected child pornography on his cell phone. They enlisted HSI to search the phone. This did not violate federal law; USPO can get assistance to conduct a search. United States v. Johnson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173063 (D. Idaho Oct. 4, 2019).

The “district court properly dismissed plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment claims, and claims brought pursuant to Monell v. Department of Social Services … which alleged that defendants interviewed the minor children while they were at school without Capp’s consent. The panel held that the first amended complaint contained no facts as to whether the interviews were conducted without either parent’s permission, the length of the interviews, or the specific circumstances of the interviews. Moreover, the panel held that even if plaintiffs had pleaded a plausible Fourth Amendment claim, defendants would be entitled to qualified immunity because the right of minor children to be free from unconstitutional seizures and interrogations by social workers had not been clearly established.” Capp v. Cty. of San Diego, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 29928 (9th Cir. Oct. 4, 2019),* withdrawing and superseding 936 F.3d 899 (9th Cir. Aug. 30, 2019).*