UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ROBERT MCLAMB
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Thacker, Jan. 25, 2018,
Search Warrant – Good Faith – Investigators reasonably relied on a magistrate’s search warrant to execute a Network Investigative Technique (NIT) on a computer.

I was so hopeful that this would be an actual opinion…

Exclusionary Rule – Good faith applies to warrants issued by a magistrate

Facts From the Case
The FBI obtained a search warrant from a federal magistrate judge in Virginia to install a “Network Investigative Technique” (NIT) on a server that was supplying child pornography. The NIT would collect information on people downloading the child pornography from the website.
This NIT led the FBI to seize McLamb’s hard drive and find child pornography on it.
McLamb challenged the authority of the Virginia magistrate to issue a search warrant.
Law From the Case
Held: Even if the magistrate did not have authority to authorize the NIT, the FBI agents were acting in good-faith reliance on the warrant. Conviction upheld.