After law enforcement officials found child pornography on his personal computer, Edward Hatcher was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child1 and sentenced to a term of imprisonment under the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions of OCGA § 17-10-6.2. Hatcher appeals, contending that the court below erred when it denied his motion to suppress information obtained from an internet service provider and when it concluded that it was without discretion to depart downward from the mandatory minimum sentence. We find no error in the denial of his motion to suppress, but we vacate his sentence and remand for reconsideration in light of Hedden v. State , 288 Ga. 871 708 SE2d 287 2011. 1. We turn first to the motion to suppress. When an appeal is taken from the denial of a motion to suppress, we owe no deference to the way in which the court below resolved questions of law, Barrett v. State , 289 Ga. 197, 200 1 709 SE2d 816 2011, but we accept its factual findings unless clearly erroneous, and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the decision of the court below. Culpepper v. State , 312 Ga. App. 115, 115-116 717 SE2d 698 2011. So viewed, the evidence in this case shows that an investigator with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office learned that someone was using a computer in Cherokee County to share child pornography on the Internet. The investigator ascertained that the Internet Protocol IP address used by the child pornographer was assigned to a customer of Comcast Cable Communications, an internet service provider, and the investigator asked Comcast to provide certain information about the account of that customer.2 Comcast did so, disclosing the name of the customer and her billing address, which was a residential address in Cherokee County.
The investigator obtained a warrant to search the residence at the billing address for certain evidence of child pornography, including any computers or electronic data storage devices that he might find there. When the investigator went to the home, he confirmed that it was occupied by a family that subscribed to Comcast internet service.3 The investigator learned that the family used a wireless router to access the Internet, and he also discovered that Hatcher lived in the basement of the home and used the same wireless router.4 The investigator interviewed Hatcher, and another officer examined his computer and found files that appeared to contain child pornography. A subsequent forensic examination of the computer revealed numerous files containing child pornography.
