Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

Question about Probable Cause

My husband has been charged with possession of Child pornography. The reason it was found was because there were FILE NAMES on the pc at work that had gotten onto the system from a flash drive he'd brought form home. There were no videos or pictures, just the names. The public defender seems to think that they didn't have probable cause to issue a search warrant because there was no proof that there were pictures. Is this a viable ''defense'' if you will...could this be brought down to a lesser charge or punishment? He went through and downloaded several files at one time and some of them contained child porn, he didn't go looking for it. They've found this stuff on our pc, and are going to use that in court, but if they acquired it without this probable cause, could they still use it? This is a glimmer of hope in an otherwise crappy end of the year....please explain....


Asked on 11/18/06, 6:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Smith LawSmith

Re: Question about Probable Cause

It sounds like your husband's attorney has raised a viable defense strategy. Obviously, you are not able to provide enough facts through this forum for one to make an assessment of your husband's situation. But, by what you were able to provide, it sounds like he might have a means to have the evidence obtained from the home pc excluded from the case agaisnt him.

Good Luck

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Answered on 11/21/06, 5:53 pm


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