United States v. Dreyer, No. 13-30077 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his conviction of one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. An NCIS agent investigating online criminal activity of persons in Washington state found evidence of criminal conduct by defendant, a civilian, and gave the information to civilian law enforcement officials. On appeal, defendant argued that the fruits of the NCIS investigation into his online file sharing should have been suppressed because military enforcement of civilian laws is prohibited. In United States v. Chon, the court held that the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), 18 U.S.C. 1385, prohibits Army and Air Force military personnel from participating in civilian law enforcement. The court reaffirmed Chon's holding that NCIS agents are bound by PCA-like restrictions on direct assistance to civilian law enforcement. In this case, the NCIS agent's actions amounted to direct assistance to civilian law enforcement and violated the regulations and policies proscribing direct military enforcement of civilian laws. The court found that the district court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress where there was abundant evidence that the violation at issue has occurred repeatedly and frequently, and that the government believes that its conduct is permissible. The court remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel reversed the district court’s denial of a suppression motion, and remanded for further proceedings, in a case in which the defendant was convicted of one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, and remanded for further proceedings. A special agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service launched an investigation for online criminal activity by anyone in the state of Washington, whether connected with the military or not. The agent found evidence of a crime committed by the defendant, a civilian, in the state and turned it over to civilian law enforcement officials. The panel reaffirmed that NCIS agents are bound by Posse Comitatus Act-like restrictions on direct assistance to civilian law enforcement, and held that the agent’s broad investigation into sharing of child pornography by anyone within the state of Washington, not just those on a military base or with a reasonable likelihood of a Navy affiliation, violated the regulations and policies proscribing direct military enforcement of civilian laws. The panel held that the exclusionary rule should be applied, and that the district court erred in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress, because there is abundant evidence that the violation at issue has occurred repeatedly and frequently, and that the government believes that its conduct is permissible, despite prior cautions by this court and others that military personnel, including NCIS agents, may not enforce the civilian laws. Concurring, Judge Kleinfeld wrote separately to address applicability of the exclusionary rule to this case, which amounts to the military acting as a national police force to investigate civilian law violations by civilians. Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Judge O’Scannlain concluded that the agent violated the Posse Comitatus Act, but dissented from the majority’s application of the exclusionary rule.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on March 25, 2015.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.