CA6: Affiant need not personally see CP pictures

It isn’t required that the affiant actually viewed child pornography to get a search warrant, at least as long as somebody did and reported it to the affiant. It is not required to attach the photographs to the search warrant application. Even if some were computer generated images, there was still probable cause. United States v. Ranke, 480 Fed. Appx. 798, 2012 FED App. 0471N (6th Cir. 2012)*:

Next, Defendant argues that the affidavit was insufficiently detailed. He points out that the affidavit does not indicate how Detective Pitts determined that the images were of a minor and that Detective Pitts’ description of a boy “apparently masturbating” suggests that he never actually viewed the images personally. Defendant claims these deficiencies were compounded when Detective Pitts failed to attach the images to the affidavit for the state court judge’s independent review.

The implication, to the extent one exists, that Detective Pitts never viewed the images personally, as well as his failure to attach the photographs to the search warrant affidavit, are both factors that should have played into the state court judge’s probable cause analysis. However, neither precluded the judge from issuing the search warrant. First, an officer is entitled to rely on information supplied by other officers or agencies for the purposes of a search warrant affidavit, provided that the information and its sources are accurately described for the reviewing judge’s independent evaluation. See United States v. Yusuf, 461 F.3d 374, 385, 48 V.I. 980 (3d Cir. 2006); United States v. Jenkins, 525 F.2d 819, 823 (6th Cir. 1975) (per curiam). Detective Pitts fulfilled that requirement when he provided an accurate description of the circumstances under which he “received information from federal authorities” regarding the greeting card, the accompanying photographs, and the incriminating evidence discovered in Brown’s cell. Likewise, Detective Pitts’ failure to attach the photographs themselves did not prevent the search warrant from being issued. A magistrate judge need not view all the evidence personally to make its decision, and the probable cause stage only requires an affidavit to show the “‘probability or substantial chance of’ possession of images of actual children; ‘an actual showing’ that the images depicted real children” is not required. Lapsins, 570 F.3d at 765 (citing Gates, 462 U.S. at 243 n.13).