03/02/2020
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US v. Ganias, 755 F. 3d 125 - Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2014 - Google Scholar
*133 The Committee also recommends giving a similar instruction at the close of the case:
During your deliberations, you must not communicate with or provide any information to anyone by any
means about this case. You may not use any electronic device or media, such as a telephone, cell
phone, smart phone, iPhone, Blackberry or computer; the internet, or any internet service, or any text or
instant messaging service; or any internet chat room, blog, or website, such as Facebook, My Space,
LinkedIn, YouTube or Twitter, to communicate to anyone any information about this case or to conduct
any research about this case until I accept your verdict.[6]
Here, while the district court gave an appropriate instruction at the start of the jury's deliberations, it does not appear that
it did so earlier. As demonstrated by this case, instructions at the beginning of deliberations may not be enough. We
think it would be wise for trial judges to give the Committee's proposed instructions both at the start of trial and as
deliberations begin, and to issue similar reminders throughout the trial before dismissing the jury each day. While
situations like the one in this case will not always require a new trial, it is the better practice for trial judges to be
proactive in warning jurors about the risks attending their use of social media.
B. The Seizure and Retention of Ganias's Computer Records
1. Applicable Law
The Fourth Amendment protects the rights of individuals "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures." U.S. Const. amend. IV; see, e.g., United States v. Ramirez, 523 U.S. 65,
71, 118 S.Ct. 992, 140 L.Ed.2d 191 (1998). A search occurs when the Government acquires information by either
"physically intruding on persons, houses, papers, or effects," or otherwise invading an area in which the individual has a
reasonable expectation of privacy. See Florida v. Jardines, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1409, 1414, 185 L.Ed.2d 495 (2013)
(internal quotation mark omitted); see also Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 360-61, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576
(1967) (Harlan, J., concurring). A seizure occurs when the Government interferes in some meaningful way with the
individual's possession of property. United States v. Jones, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 945, 951 n. 5, 181 L.Ed.2d 911
(2012). Subject to limited exceptions,[7] a search or seizure conducted without a warrant is presumptively unreasonable.
See Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27, 31, 121 S.Ct. 2038, 150 L.Ed.2d 94 (2001).
We must construe the Fourth Amendment "in [] light of what was deemed an unreasonable search and seizure when it
was adopted, and in a manner which will conserve public interests as well as the interests and rights of individual
citizens." Kyllo, 533 U.S. at 40, 121 S.Ct. 2038. Applying 18th Century notions about searches and seizures to modern
technology, however, is easier said than done, as we are asked to measure Government actions taken in the "computer
134
age" against Fourth Amendment frameworks crafted long before this technology existed.[8] *134 As we do so, we must
keep in mind that "the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness." Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S.
___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 1569, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013) (Roberts, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (internal
quotation marks omitted). Because the degree of privacy secured to citizens by the Fourth Amendment has been
impacted by the advance of technology, the challenge is to adapt traditional Fourth Amendment concepts to the
Government's modern, more sophisticated investigative tools.
"The chief evil that prompted the framing and adoption of the Fourth Amendment was the `indiscriminate searches and
seizures' conducted by the British `under the authority of general warrants.'" United States v. Galpin, 720 F.3d 436, 445
(2d Cir.2013) (quoting Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 583, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980)) (internal
quotation marks omitted). General warrants were ones "not grounded upon a sworn oath of a specific infraction by a
particular individual, and thus not limited in scope and application." Maryland v. King, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1958,
1980, 186 L.Ed.2d 1 (2013). The British Crown had long used these questionable instruments to enter a political
opponent's home and seize all his books and papers, hoping to find among them evidence of criminal activity. See
Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476, 482-83, 85 S.Ct. 506, 13 L.Ed.2d 431 (1965). The Framers abhorred this practice,
believing that "papers are often the dearest property a man can have" and that permitting the Government to "sweep
away all papers whatsoever," without any legal justification, "would destroy all the comforts of society." Entick v.
Carrington, 95 Eng. Rep. 807, 817-18 (C.P.1765).[9]
The Fourth Amendment guards against this practice by providing that a warrant will issue only if: (1) the Government
establishes probable cause to believe the search will uncover evidence of a specific crime; and (2) the warrant states
with particularity the areas to be searched and the items to be seized. Galpin, 720 F.3d at 445. The latter requirement, in
particular, "makes general searches ... impossible" because it "prevents the seizure of one thing under a warrant
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