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Romm; U.S. v.

Facts

Defendant downloaded Internet images of child pornography for viewing in the United States, then deleted them and flew to Canada. A border guard discovered defendant's criminal history and, examining his laptop, found pornography websites in the Internet history file. After admitting to violating his probation, he was returned to the U.S. His convictions were based on 42 images deleted from his hard drive. The court held that the contents of defendant's laptop were properly searched at an international border without a warrant.

Defendant Stuart Romm connected to the internet from a Las Vegas hotel room and visited websites containing images of child pornography. As Romm viewed the images online and enlarged them on his screen, his computer automatically saved copies of the images to his 'internet cache.'

Issue

Whether the forensic analysis of Romm's laptop falls under the border search exception to the warrant requirement and whether the evidence was sufficient to convict him of receiving and possessing child pornography.

We are called upon to decide whether, absent a search warrant or probable cause, the contents of a laptop computer may be searched at an international border and, if so, what evidence is sufficient to convict its owner of receiving and possessing child pornography.

Rule

Under the border search exception, the government may conduct routine searches of persons entering the United States without probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or a warrant. A person can receive and possess child pornography without downloading it if they seek it out and exercise dominion and control over it.

Under the border search exception, the government may conduct routine searches of persons entering the United States without probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or a warrant.

Analysis

The court found that the forensic analysis of Romm's laptop was a valid border search. It determined that Romm exercised dominion and control over the images in his cache by enlarging them on his screen and saving them there for a period before deleting them. The court held that the images stored in Romm's internet cache were 'visual depictions' under the law, and thus, the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find that he possessed and received the images.

Thus, the routine border search of Romm's laptop was reasonable, regardless whether Romm obtained foreign contraband in Canada or was under 'official restraint.'

Conclusion

The court affirmed Romm's convictions but vacated his sentence and remanded for resentencing based on the proper application of the modified categorical approach to his prior convictions.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1291, and for the reasons stated herein, affirm Romm's convictions, but vacate his sentences and remand to the district court for resentencing.

Who won?

The United States prevailed in the case as the court upheld the convictions based on the sufficiency of the evidence and the legality of the border search.

The court affirmed Romm's convictions but vacated his sentence and remanded for resentencing based on the proper application of the modified categorical approach to his prior convictions.

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