W.D.N.Y.: Federal SW executed on state seized evidence four days after warrant expired was still with PC and was not suppressed

State officers seized a camera and memory card from defendant’s apartment based on statements from two witnesses that they saw images on defendant’s camera of him raping two young girls. Even if the state officials unlawfully seized the camera, the search warrant for what was held was reasonable. The federal search warrant warrant was executed four days after it expired, but probable cause still existed so the search was still reasonable. United States v. Ahmad, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74325 (W.D. N.Y. May 29, 2012), adopted 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103003 (W.D. N.Y. July 24, 2012):

Courts have declined to order suppression of evidence seized pursuant to belatedly-executed warrants where probable cause still existed at the time of the execution and the police did not deliberately disregard the terms of the warrant. E.g., United States v. Sims, 428 F.3d at 955 (one-day delay in executing search warrant does not justify suppression because warrant was executed within the period prescribed by Rule 41, probable cause to search still existed and police did not intentionally disregard warrant’s terms; “[because] non-prejudicial and unintentional violations of Rule 41 do not result in suppression, then a fortiori technical violations of the warrant itself compel the same result”); United States v. Gerber, 994 F.2d at 1561 n.4 (denying suppression where search was conducted three days after the warrant’s expiration; “inadvertent, technical violation of Rule 41 should not preclude key incriminating evidence for which a valid warrant based on abundant probable cause was obtained”); United States v. Huslage, 480 F. Supp. 870, 875 (W.D. Pa. 1979) (denying suppression where warrant expired at 5:00 a.m., police conducted second search at 10:00 a.m. and probable cause to search still existed).

In this case, the evidence was seized by the Brighton Police on June 6, 2011, and remained in their possession since that date. The federal warrant was issued on August 25, 2011, and directed its execution by September 2, 2011. Couch executed the warrant on September 6, 2011, four days after the expiration date and twelve days after it was issued. Despite the warrant’s expiration, probable cause to seize the items had not lapsed — the items were still in police custody and were as likely to constitute or contain relevant evidence on September 6 as they were on August 25, 2011. Ahmad has made no showing or even suggestion of prejudice resulting from the belated execution and no evidence exists that Couch intentionally disregarded the terms of the warrant. Indeed, Couch has explained that the delay resulted from his mistaken belief that he had sixty days to execute it. On this record, I find that the delay in executing the warrant did not constitute an unreasonable seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.