Allowing Police to ‘Look’ at Phone Consented to Forensic Search

A defendant, who told an investigator he could “take a look at” his phone and never rescinded that authority, consented to the two forensic searches that later discovered child pornography on the phone, the Eleventh Circuit said Tuesday.

The unpublished per curiam opinion rejected James Butler’s argument that the forensic searches exceeded the scope of his consent. Instead, it said that Butler allowed the agent to take the phone to technical personnel, agreed to unlock the phone and gave the agent his password, which allowed the technical personnel to examine it, and said he’d answer any questions the agent had ...