UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS July 3, 2024

Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

No. 23-8027 v.

SALVADOR SALAS, JR.,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming (D.C. No. 1:21-CR-00077-SWS-1) _________________________________

Kari S. Schmidt, Conlee, Schmidt & Emerson LLP, Wichita, Kansas, for Defendant- Appellant.

Christyne M. Martens, Assistant United States Attorney (Nicholas Vassallo, United States Attorney, with him on the brief), Office of the United States Attorney, Casper, Wyoming, for Plaintiff-Appellee. _________________________________

Before PHILLIPS, SEYMOUR, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge. _________________________________

In July 2021, based on evidence seized pursuant to two warrants, one for illicit

drugs and one for child pornography, Mr. Salvador Salas, Jr. was charged with, and

eventually convicted of, one count of possession and five counts of production of child Appellate Case: 23-8027 Document: 010111074573 Date Filed: 07/03/2024 Page: 2

pornography. Prior to trial, Mr. Salas argued that all evidence found pursuant to the child

pornography warrant should be suppressed because the warrant violated the Fourth

Amendment. The district court agreed a Fourth Amendment violation had occurred but

declined to suppress the child pornography evidence. It found that suppression was

inappropriate because Mr. Salas’s child pornography would have been inevitably

discovered. On appeal, Mr. Salas contends that his child pornography would not have been

inevitably discovered and, as such, should have been suppressed. We disagree and affirm.

I.

The factual events constituting Mr. Salas’s case began February 27, 2021. That

evening, while she visited his home, Mr. Salas gave methamphetamine to S.V.,1 a 13-year-

old girl, after which he sexually abused, filmed, and photographed her. S.V. was the

daughter of Chelsea Gonzalez who had been a friend to Mr. Salas for approximately six

years and whose children, including S.V., had often visited, stayed with, and babysat for

Mr. Salas without incident. However, when S.V. returned home that night, Gonzalez

noticed she was acting “really weird and not correct” and had a swollen white blister in her

mouth. Rec., vol. V at 744. Concerned, Gonzalez took S.V. to the hospital, where a urinary

analysis tested positive for methamphetamines. That next day, Gonzalez filed a police

report with the Casper Police Department.

On March 1, based on Gonzalez’s report, police officers obtained a warrant (the

“First Warrant”) to search Mr. Salas’s home and vehicle for drugs and related evidence. On

1 As referred to in the briefs, we also refer to the child victim as “S.V.”

2 Appellate Case: 23-8027 Document: 010111074573 Date Filed: 07/03/2024 Page: 3

March 2, they executed it. During their search of Mr. Salas’s home, the officers arrested

him and his girlfriend, seized “a significant amount of narcotics,” and seized Mr. Salas’s

iPhone and one hard drive. Aplt. Br. at 9. After interviewing Mr. Salas’s girlfriend and

noticing that he owned a significant amount of video and photography equipment, the

officers further suspected him of producing or possessing child pornography. That same

day they ap

Click Here to Read the rest of this document