James v. State

Under the totality of the circumstances, the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed to issue a search warrant, even though the agent seeking the warrant did not contact Google to confirm the identity of the employee who reported the posting of child pornography to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then contacted the GBI.

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Following a bench trial, Ronald Malcus James was convicted of 26 counts of sexual exploitation of children OCGA § 16-12-100. On appeal, James contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized as a result of a search warrant authorizing entry into his home and the seizure of his computer therein. We find that under the totality of circumstances the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed to issue the warrant, and we affirm. A special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation GBI applied for a warrant to search James’s residence for evidence of the crime of sexual exploitation of children. The agent’s affidavit in support of the warrant application showed that on January 8, 2007, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children the “NCMEC” contacted the GBI with information that an Athens, Clarke County suspect had posted images of child pornography on a specified Internet website. According to the NCMEC, its information was provided by a named internet security specialist employed by the host of the website, Google, Inc. the “Google Employee”. In her referral to the NCMEC, the Google Employee “identifies the subject operating the website . . . to have an address in Athens, Clarke County, Georgia.”

According to the agent’s affidavit, the NCMEC’s referral to the GBI identified the internet protocol IP address associated with the subject website, and using the WHOIS internet database, it was determined that Charter Communications was internet service provider for this IP address. The agent subsequently obtained a court order to require Charter Communications to provide the subscriber information pertaining to the IP address. Charter Communications identified James, at a physical address in Athens, Clarke County, as the registered user of the IP address at the time the alleged illegal activity occurred.

James v. State

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