The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed several criminal counts in a child pornography that centered around reasonable expectation of privacy to a peer-to-peer network.

Although the defendant attempted to defend himself pro se, his “several garbled motions” on sovereign citizen theory were not enough to convince the court that he enjoyed a reasonable expectation of privacy. This case marked the first time the Fifth Circuit confronted the issue of whether or not P2P networks are subject to the usual “reasonable expectation” test.

Fort Worth Police Department officer Randy Watkins used Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software to scan for computer users who swapped and shared child pornography. He utilized law enforcement software and ran a comparison of known child pornography media files against the files seen being piped through the P2P network.

Disruptive Proceedings

The defendant, Chris Weast, did more damage to himself than if he had been appointed counsel. After the court granted his motion to represent himself pro se, he started embarrassing himself by submitting roundabout motions in the variety of the “sovereign citizen” – the same type of arguments put forth by those who believe that they are exempt from taxes and other federal laws. The jury quickly gave him 30 years.

No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in P2P Networks

Weast’s appeal did not go well for him. One of the legal issues dealt with whether or not Watkins violated Weast’s Fourth Amendment Rights because law enforcement did not secure a warrant to search Weast’s IP address – which ultimately led to his arrest and seizure of property. At the District level, the court found Weast’s claims unavailing.

The circuit was also not convinced. Applying uniform federal opinion on the matter, the circuit concluded that one does not enjoy a reasonable expectation in those areas which are “voluntarily conveyed to third parties.”

Related Resources:

  • FBI Hacks World’s Largest Child Porn Site (RT)
  • Fifth Circuit Affirms District Court Ruling Against Bad-Faith Debtor (FindLaw’s U.S. Fifth Circuit Blog)
  • Ray Nagin’s Call for New Trial Is ‘Meritless,’ 5th Cir. Rules (FindLaw’s U.S. Fifth Circuit Blog)
  • JSW Steel Joined in Conspiracy to Tank Competitor, 5th Cir. Affirms (FindLaw’s U.S. Fifth Circuit Blog)

You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help

Civil Rights

Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court

Criminal

Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records

Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules