United States v. Rittenhouse

After a fellow soldier reported seeing sexually explicit photos of children on Sergeant Josh R. Rittenhouse’s (defendant) computer, Rittenhouse was interviewed by criminal-investigation-division agents. During the interview, Rittenhouse signed a consent-to-search form. One section of the form granted consent to search Rittenhouse’s barracks room, computers, hard disks, removable data-storage media, portable data-storage devices, and computer input and output devices for material related to the sexual exploitation of minors. This section of the form contained a subsection authorizing the removal and retention of certain types of property including text, graphics, e-mail messages, and other data. Agents searched Rittenhouse’s room and removed a computer and three hundred computer disks so that they could be searched later in compliance with standard forensic procedures. While the search was being conducted, Rittenhouse admitted to agents that he had used his computer to search for, look at, and download images of naked children for his own sexual gratification. At his arraignment on child-pornography charges, Rittenhouse moved to suppress evidence found during the forensic search of the computer and the disks, arguing that the seizure of the items exceeded the scope of his consent to search. The military judge granted Rittenhouse’s motion, finding that Rittenhouse had consented to the search, but not the removal, of the computer and disks. The United States government appealed the military’s grant of the motion to suppress.