Expert: Jack Toomey - 9/18/2006

Question
Estranged wife tells husband to take computer, bought with his credit card and supposedly used exclusively by him during Order of Protection move-out, as "Police might take it, and God only knows what they'll find".
Detective calls husband and invites him to visit Police Station, so they can go thru computer together "20 minutes" to search for what "wife" alleges as child porn. Husband initially accepts offer, but contacts divorce atty, who advises him to refuse offer of visit and make statement that he knows of nothing inappropriate on computer. Detective interrupts this statement mid-sentence and tells husband not to say anything without atty present.
Over a month later, husband repeatedly calls detective wanting computer, which obviously has divulged no evidence of illegal activity. Only after atty calls does a response get delivered (to husband, not atty). Detective says computer is at undisclosed location, torn apart for forensic investigation. Several more weeks go by with no further communication.
Does this sound like:
    a) illegal search-seizure, as no warrant was even mentioned.
    b) attempted entrapment, as the first invitation to visit Police Station was to happen without an attorney.
    c) harassment, as husband has now spent well over a month worrying about the situation, with no feedback from detective.
    d) attempt by wife to trick husband into taking possible marital property from home.


Answer
   It is not entrapment unless the detective encouraged you to download child pornography at the police station.  In other words entrampent is when a person is encouraged to commit a crime that he normally would not think of committing.

   Your statement ""police might take it, God knows what they will find" puzzles me.  Was this on some kind of legal document or is that your thoughts?  How did the computer get into the hands of the police if this was a seperation of the husband and wife?

  It is not harrassment (which used alone is not a crime) unless the detective phoned you every day and tried to question you over the phone, emailed you repeatedly, came by your job and told your boss that you were a pedophille, etc, etc.  Harrssment, in the legal sense, is a repeated pattern of conduct that is conducted with the intent to bother the other party but there must be a word that goes with it like "Telephone harrassment, sexual harrassment, etc"

  I have no idea if it is a trick.

   By the way where is your attorney during all of this?  Why isn't he filing motions or contacting the supervisor of the detective or police chief to get the computer back?