State v. Terrell, 372 N.C. 657

Summary

The Supreme Court of North Carolina considered whether a law enforcement officer’s warrantless search of a defendant’s USB drive was permissible under the private-search doctrine after a private individual had viewed some of its contents. The court held that the officer’s search exceeded the scope of the prior private search and violated the Fourth Amendment. The court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision remanding for determination of whether the search warrant remained supported by probable cause after excising information obtained from the unlawful search.

Holdings

1. A private party's limited search of a digital storage device does not automatically eliminate the owner's reasonable expectation of privacy in the device's entire contents. Under the private-search doctrine, a warrantless follow-up search is permissible only to the extent it does not exceed the scope of the private search and the officer has virtual certainty that the inspection will reveal nothing more than what the private searcher already revealed. Because the State failed to establish that limitation, the detective's warrantless search was unlawful.
2. Evidence obtained through the detective's unlawful warrantless search could not be used to support the subsequent search-warrant application.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a warrantless law-enforcement search of a USB thumb drive following a private search was permissible under the private-search doctrine.
2. Whether the private opening and limited viewing of the USB thumb drive eliminated defendant's reasonable expectation of privacy in the device's entire contents.
3. Whether the Court of Appeals properly remanded for the trial court to determine probable cause after excising evidence obtained through the warrantless search.

Disposition

affirmed