“In Mr. Jackson’s case, the search warrant showed the premises to be searched as multiple buildings housing a church, its offices, and residences of its priests, with no showing of any investigation or attempt to narrow down the visitor, employee, or priest who might have used the IP address assigned to the facilities, at the times in question, to view the alleged pornography or the location from which the viewing occurred,” the motion says. “Therefore, the warrant is in violation of the particularity clause regarding the place to be searched.”
The motion says that “The fact that an IP address serviced the buildings did not provide an objectively reasonable belief that probable cause existed for such an exhaustive search without any attempt to narrow down, or ‘particularly describe’ the place to be searched and the things to be seized.”
According to the federal court system PACER, responses to the motion are due Oct. 19.
Picozzi alleged in the petition that Jackson “accessed child pornography and is the target of a local/state law enforcement investigation.” The petition also says that Jackson “possessed and accessed computer equipment not authorized/approved by” the probation officer.
Following Picozzi’s petition, Jackson was subsequently arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service three days later.
In Jackson’s Oct. 3 court appearance at federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, he admitted that the government could prove that he violated certain conditions of his pretrial release.
He is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
“Law enforcement made no effort to narrow down the potential defendant among the multiple employees and priests, and parishioners of the church, or the particular device that was involved in viewing the child pornography,” Jackson’s motion said.
“Whether they could have, like the name listed on the warrant, is ‘unknown,’ but they should have tried, and no showing was made in the warrant affidavit of any attempt to do so,” the motion said.
Jackson’s trial is set for November.
Joseph Bukuras is a journalist at the Catholic News Agency. Joe has prior experience working in state and federal government, in non-profits, and Catholic education. He has contributed to an array of publications and his reporting has been cited by leading news sources, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Catholic University of America. He is based out of the Boston area.