U.S. v. Paton
| Decision Date | 28 July 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 07-3207.,07-3207. |
| Citation | 535 F.3d 829 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Lyle Robert PATON, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Jennifer Marie Macaulay, argued, St. Paul, MN, for appellant.
Nathan Paul Petterson, AUSA, argued (Lisa D. Kirkpatrick, AUSA, on the brief), for appellee.
Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, JOHN R. GIBSON and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.
Lyle Robert Paton conditionally pled guilty to five counts of production of child pornography, reserving the right to challenge the district court's1 denial of his motion to suppress the images of child pornography seized from his home during the execution of a search warrant. The district court sentenced Paton to life in prison. On appeal, Paton challenges the denial of his motion to suppress and argues his sentence violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. We affirm.
On July 7, 2006, a concerned citizen called the St. Paul, Minnesota, Police Department to report suspicious activity at Lilydale Park. St. Paul Police Officer Colleen Lesedi responded to the call and met with the citizen. The citizen reported she had observed an adult male with a digital camera heading into the woods with five boys, one of whom was smoking. She explained the man looked suspicious and was shabbily dressed and commented that the boys did not look like they were having a good time. The woman described the boys' body language as "off." Officer Lesedi told the citizen she would head into the woods to try to find the group.
Officer Lesedi parked her patrol car behind the car the man with the five boys had driven to the park. She entered the woods and eventually encountered the group from behind. One of the boys noticed Officer Lesedi approaching and tapped the man on the shoulder. In a non-confrontational and cheerful manner, Officer Lesedi asked the group what they were doing in the woods. One boy responded that they were looking for fossils. Officer Lesedi asked if they had found any fossils, and the boy responded that they had not. Officer Lesedi followed up by asking if the boys were part of a summer class, and the boys indicated they were not; they identified the man they were with as a friend of the family. The boys appeared on edge and evasive in their responses. The adult male did not respond to the officer, except for occasionally shaking his head. Officer Lesedi noted the man's clothes — a buttoned up short-sleeved shirt, tan pants, and beat up dress shoes. She found this attire ill-suited to the stated purpose of walking in the woods looking for fossils, as Lilydale Park lacked paved trails and it was a particularly hot day. Upon Officer Lesedi's inquiry, the man identified himself as Lyle Robert Paton. Officer Lesedi noticed Paton was carrying a digital camera. Officer Lesedi told the group to "have a good day," and she walked out of the woods.
After she exited the woods, Officer Lesedi called to check on Paton's criminal history. She learned that Paton was a registered sexual predator with two prior offenses: one involving child pornography and one for criminal sexual conduct in the third degree involving a juvenile male.2 Officer Lesedi called for backup.
Paton emerged from the woods while Officer Lesedi was on the telephone. Paton, walking by himself, did not attempt to make contact with Officer Lesedi. Paton waited for the boys to exit the woods. Before the boys emerged from the woods, Officer Lesedi called out to Paton and asked him to "wait." The boys eventually exited the woods, walking slowly, and they waited by Paton's car without speaking to either Paton or Officer Lesedi.
St. Paul Police Officer Mitchell Schuck arrived in a second squad car. After conferring with Officer Lesedi, Officer Schuck approached Paton. Officer Schuck explained to Paton that he needed to search his person for officer safety. Paton consented to the search; Officer Schuck did not locate any weapons. It was a very hot day, and Paton indicated he was not feeling well. Officer Schuck asked Paton to sit in the back of Officer Lesedi's squad car, which is air conditioned, to continue their conversation. Officer Schuck informed Paton that he was not under arrest, and Paton agreed to sit in the car to answer some questions.
During their conversation in the squad car, Officer Schuck noticed Paton was no longer carrying a digital camera. Officer Schuck asked Officer Lesedi about the camera's location, and Officer Lesedi reported she was unaware the camera was missing. Officer Schuck then asked Paton about the camera, and Paton explained that he "got scared" and discarded the camera in the weeds near the entrance to the woods. Paton offered to show the officer where the camera was located, but Officer Schuck declined, preferring to use the police dog who had recently arrived on the scene along with other officers. The dog located the camera about fifty yards from the path's entrance to the woods and roughly ten feet from the path. The camera's memory card door was open, and the digital memory card was missing. Officer Schuck asked Paton about the memory card, and Paton stated the card was in his wallet. Officer Schuck retrieved the card from Paton's wallet with his permission. The card appeared "ripped or chewed up," "as if someone had been picking it apart with their fingernail."
Officers asked the boys about their time in the woods with Paton. The boys stated that Paton took three pictures of each of them while they were holding a fossil. None of the boys indicated anything was amiss; none reported having had pornographic pictures taken. While speaking with Officer Schuck, Paton denied taking any pictures of the boys while they were in the woods.
Officers contacted Paton's wife, Helen Brown Bruce, the registered owner of the car Paton had driven to the park. Bruce voiced concerns about her husband's presence at the park with young boys. Bruce consented to a search of her car, and officers drove her to the park. At the park, Bruce stated she did not recognize any of the boys with her husband. When the police searched Bruce's car, they found a second digital memory card. Eventually, Paton and Bruce left the park together.
On July 14, 2006, a nurse at the Midwest Children's Resource Center in St. Paul interviewed two of the boys who had been in the woods with Paton. The nurse interviewed the boys, identified as R.T. and S.C., separately, and the boys did not have the opportunity to consult with each other between interviews. R.T. stated that Paton had taken multiple nude pictures of him over a two-year period and reported that Paton took similar pictures of other boys. He described Paton taking boys to the woods or other secluded locations to take nude photographs or film nude movies. He explained that Paton gave the children clothing, shoes, toys, and video games in exchange for allowing him to take the photographs or film the movies. In addition to the photographing and filming, R.T. stated Paton had attempted to touch and rub his penis. S.C. provided a similar account of exploitation by Paton. S.C. said that over the course of two years Paton had taken nude photographs of him and given him gifts in return.
On July 17, 2006, Sergeant Julie Harris of the St. Paul Police Department applied for a warrant to search Paton's home, person, and vehicle. The search warrant application included details about the encounter with Paton in Lilydale Park and the statements made by R.T. and S.C. The application did not include any information about images found on the digital memory card recovered from Paton's wallet or the card found in the car Paton drove to the park. Sergeant Harris, a ten-year veteran with the St. Paul Police Department and a member of the department's Sex Crimes Unit, included details about her background and experience, as well as information about crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children she had gained through her training and experience.
A state court judge issued the warrant, and officers executed it on July 19, 2006. Among other items, officers recovered a digital memory card containing 114 nude images of five male children. In ten of these images, the children were engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In forty of the images, the children were touching each other, though not in the genital area. The images included pictures of two of the five boys who had been in Lilydale Park with Paton on July 7. Based on this evidence, a federal grand jury charged Paton with five counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Each of the five counts of production of child pornography relates to a different victim.
Paton filed a motion to suppress evidence, alleging that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated during his detention in Lilydale Park on July 7 and when the warrant was executed on July 19. A magistrate judge recommended the district court deny the motion, and the district court adopted the recommendation, excluding one part not relevant to this appeal.
Subsequently, Paton pled guilty to the five production counts, pursuant to a plea agreement. In the plea agreement, Paton reserved the right to appeal "the Court's denial of his motion to suppress the images of child pornography seized from the defendant's home on July 19, 2006," and "waive[d] appeal of all other pretrial rulings of the Court." At the plea hearing, Paton requested permission to speak. The court granted his request, and Paton commented that the images of child pornography he produced "were taken in the context of mutual delight."
The probation office prepared a presentence investigation report (PSR) in anticipation of sentencing. The PSR recounted Paton's exploitation of each of the five victims involved in the offenses of conviction, as well as Paton's admissions regarding other incidents of sexual...
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