United States v. Lamm
5 F.4th 942 (8th Cir. 2021)
Nature Of The Case
This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.
Facts
A Homeland Security Special Agent was investigating Jason Jorgenson and his Facebook account for suspected distribution of child pornography. Jorgenson communicated with two other Facebook accounts. One using the name Kevin Lamm (D) and one using Mike Malone (an alias for D). The agent received certified records from Facebook, which included copies of messages between the three accounts. The emails used were traced to D. Jorgenson told T.B., a 14-year-old girl to message the Malone account. T.B. asked the Malone account user what he looked like. The user responded with pictures of F in a black Nike cap, which were identical to photos posted on both the Malone and F accounts. T.B. also received another picture of F making a peace sign hand gesture with a distinctive lamp in the background. On January 12, the Malone account asked T.B. to send him pictures and T.B. responded with multiple child pornography images. The agent suspected that D was Malone which subscriber information in the certified records from Facebook tended to verify. Both accounts were associated with a cell phone number belonging to a Verizon account in D's name, and the two accounts displayed identical or similar photographs of D making the same hand gestures and wearing the same clothes. The agent executed a search warrant for D's apartment and she saw the lamp in the pictures from the D and Malone accounts. A cell phone was found that matched the number associated with both accounts. On the phone, there were several screenshots of the messages between the Malone account and T.B., and more images of D. There were more screenshots of website memberships using the same Gmail account D gave to Jorgenson. There were also other applications on that phone registered with an email address containing Mike Malone's name. Memory cards with photographs of D and child pornography were found in D's apartment. The memory cards also had evidence linking D to the Malone account, including images of D that had been posted on the Malone account, more screenshots of the messages between the Malone account and T.B., and screenshots of messages between Jorgenson and the Malone account referencing T.B. D was indicted for the distribution and production of child pornography. P wanted to introduce records from Facebook that showed D operated both accounts. P argued that the records were sufficiently self-authenticated under 902(11) because Facebook certified them. Lamm objected. The district court held that P had to provide further authentication under Rule 901(a) by offering extrinsic evidence to tie them both to D. P introduced images, the memory cards, information from additional websites containing identical subscriber information, and identified matching clothing and household items depicted in the images posted on both accounts. D was convicted on all counts. D appealed claiming the exhibits were not authenticated and contained inadmissible hearsay.
Issues
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Holding & Decision
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Legal Analysis
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