State v. Seibert

In State v. Seibert, Tusc. Case No. 2004-AP-060048, 2005 Ohio 275, the Court held that an officer who was conducting a search for items related to child pornography did not exceed the scope of the search warrant by opening drawers and a container in which cocaine was found. The Court, in Seibert, specifically held, in relevant part, as follows: "The drawers could easily have contained 'floppy disks, cassette or other tapes, CD's, and any other permanent or transient storage devices; records or documents contained on paper in handwritten, typed, photocopied, or printed form, or stored on any other type of media ...' Detective Bickford testified at the hearing on appellant's motion to suppress that some of the external storage devices can be as small as a 'remote of a key chain.' (T. at 11). Consequently, the drawer fell within the scope of the search warrant, and the police officers did not have to obtain an additional warrant to open the drawer." Id. at paragraph 18.