A.F.Ct.Crim.App.: Spousal privilege as hearsay doesn’t prevent SW from issuing

Under United States v. Lovell, 8 M.J. 613 (A.F.C.M.R. 1979), “testimonial privilege conferred by Mil. R. Evid. 504 does not extend to preventing a spouse from furnishing evidence which provides probable cause for authorizing a search. This precedent would have been virtually impossible to overcome in any challenge of the search based upon the fact that Appellant’s wife provided the probable cause. Additionally, the military judge ruled that the facts of this case established that Appellant had divulged the existence of child pornography on his computer to a third party, SSgt AS, who provided evidence to AFOSI the day after the search authorization based on the spousal communications was granted and the computers were seized by AFOSI.” United States v. Weiss, 2015 CCA LEXIS 538 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. Dec. 1, 2015).