United States v. Purcell, No. 19-238 (2d Cir. 2020)
Annotate this Case
Defendant appealed his conviction of five counts arising from his operation of a prostitution business. The Second Circuit held that the district court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress the evidence seized from his Facebook account, because even if the warrants authorizing seizure of that evidence were defective, the officers who collected and reviewed the evidence reasonably relied on them in good faith.
The court also held that the government presented sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable jury to find defendant guilty on Counts Two and Five, and that the testimony that defendant challenges was properly admitted non-hearsay. However, the court held that the government failed to present sufficient evidence of venue in the Southern District of New York with respect to Count One, which charged defendant with enticement to engage in unlawful sexual activity. Accordingly, the court reversed as to that conviction and affirmed as to all other counts, remanding for dismissal of Count One.
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.