Stevie Lee Baker
A motion to throw out evidence in the case of a Mountain Home man charged with 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing child pornography was granted during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Twenty-three-year-old Stevie Lee Baker was arrested last year. He had earlier entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.
In granting the motion to suppress, Circuit Judge John Putman said it was the first time in 20 years on the bench he had granted such a motion.
The judge said in multiple reviews of the Baker case, he could find no probable cause spelled out in the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for Baker’s cellphone to justify the search.
The state announced the case would be dismissed.
As Baker stood before the bench, Judge Putman told him “this is not a minor thing, you dodged a bullet in this situation and it would be best for you to learn from the experience.
Deputy Public Defender James Wallace represented Baker. Wallace filed the suppression motion early last month.
The motion asked that all evidence obtained from a cellphone belonging to Baker be thrown out citing deficiencies in the search warrant used to gain access to the material. In the motion to suppress, Wallace contended his client’s cellphone was taken as part of an investigation into the death-by-suicide of a 20-year-old Harrison man.
Early in the day of the incident, the man’s girlfriend told investigators he had taken a number of “hits” of LSD and became increasingly paranoid.
The girlfriend said she called Baker and a women, both friends from Mountain Home, and asked them to come and get her because arguments had broken between the couple. Eventually, several people were involved, including Baker and relatives of the dead man.
The girlfriend told police she had left the resident for a short while because of the growing tension. When she got back, she reported, the door was locked and the boyfriend did not come to the door despite her “constant banging.”
Once entry to the house was gained, the man’s body was found on the kitchen floor.
A search warrant was obtained for the four cellphones that had been seized during the initial death investigation — including Baker’s.
Investigators wrote there was probable cause to check the phones because information pertinent to the death investigation or the use or sale of narcotics could be on the phones.
In his motion, Wallace wrote that there were no allegations that Baker was involved in the death, or with the drugs found at the residence of the dead man, or that he used his cellphone in pursuit of any illegal activity. The motion contends the warrant “states no facts or evidence that would support the search of Baker’s phone.
The defense argued that the state had the ability to focus a search specifically for certain types of data on cellphones or other types of digital media. By using those tools, the defense contended investigators could have been “very specific and particular” in the request to search the phone for information as to the death of the young man or the drugs that were found at the residence.
Instead, a “broad blanket” search was made — not for specific information pertaining to the death or drug use at the house, the major reasons given for wanting the warrant.
AFFIDAVIT IN CASE
According to the probable cause affidavit, the search of Baker’s phone concerning the investigation for which it was obtained, but did lead to the discovery of a number images of children in sexually explicit poses. Using GPS data, the investigators were able to tell ell that when certain sexually explicit images of children were viewed or saved to the phone, the activity was taking place in an area near Baker’s Mountain Home address.
Investigators report that a number of items related to child pornography had been deleted from the histories of web searches done on the cellphone.
Because of the deletions, a charge of tampering with physical evidence was added to those charges stemming from the images found on the phone.
There were reported to have been web searches on Baker’s phone dealing with topics such as is a therapist required “to report you if you have sexual urges about children?” and “child porn self-help.”
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