People v. Bernal CA6

Filed 9/11/14 P. v. Bernal CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H040437 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. C1242138)

v.

JEREMY ROCHA BERNAL,

Defendant and Appellant.

I. INTRODUCTION After the trial court denied his motion to suppress evidence, defendant Jeremy Rocha Bernal pleaded no contest to possession of child pornography. (Pen. Code, § 311.11, subd. (a).1) Defendant was placed on probation and ordered to serve four months in county jail plus 60 days of hard labor. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress. He argues that there was no probable cause to support issuance of a search warrant for his residence, which was associated with an internet protocol address from which child pornography was being transmitted. We disagree and will affirm the judgment.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

II. BACKGROUND A. Factual Background On August 2, 2011, while working with the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, San Jose Police Officer Russell Chubon applied for and obtained a search warrant for the premises of 752 Wedgewood Drive. In his probable cause statement, Officer Chubon described his training and expertise in investigating sexual assaults, child pornography, child sexual exploitation, and child molestation. His training included a 40-hour course on child pornography investigative techniques, a 28-hour course on child pornography peer-to-peer investigations, and a 21-hour course on commercial sexual exploitation of children. Officer Chubon explained that peer-to-peer networks are frequently used by persons trading in child pornography. A person can install peer-to-peer software in order to search for and download pornography that is located on other users’ computers. Officer Chubon further explained that Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are used to identify the location of computers on the internet. With an IP address, police can identify a user’s internet service provider, and the service provider can identify the account holder. On separate occasions, Officer Chubon and another officer had both used peer-to- peer software to locate a computer that was sharing files containing child pornography. The computer had an IP address of 98.248.73.18. That IP address was assigned to Comcast Cable Communications, Inc., which informed the officers that the account was associated with a residence at 752 Wedgewood Drive. The account was in defendant’s uncle’s name. On August 4, 2011, officers served the search warrant at 752 Wedgewood Drive, a three or four bedroom single family residence where five or six people lived, including defendant. In a hall closet, officers found compact discs and DVD’s containing child pornography. Defendant was present during the search and acknowledged the items in the closet belonged to him. Defendant’s sister confirmed that defendant had been