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A Kamloops man who was ordered to spend six months in prison after police caught him with a stash of “troubling” child pornography has had his appeal thrown out by B.C.’s highest court.
Devan Shane Wallis, 34, was sentenced last year after he was convicted following a trial in B.C. Supreme Court on one count of possession of child pornography.
Court heard Wallis ended up on the radar of Mounties after American law enforcement officials provided a tip about an IP address in Kamloops being used to upload child pornography to 4chan — a website where users share images, often anonymously.
Police executed a search warrant on July 7, 2020, at the Valleyview apartment Wallis shared with his girlfriend. Nearly 800 files depicting child pornography — 746 images and 42 videos — were found on Wallis’ devices.
The contents of the videos and images were described in court. Some of them depicted toddlers being actively sexually assaulted and others showed bestiality. A prosecutor described the material as "troubling."
Wallis was sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by two years of probation. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 20 years and submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database.
Wallis appealed his conviction on the grounds that the judge improperly admitted his cellphone as evidence. He argued the phone was not covered by the warrant police had at the time.
A three-judge B.C. Court of Appeal panel did not agree.
“The warrant authorized the police to search for cellphones or mobile devices that would afford evidence of a child-pornography offence,” Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten wrote in a decision on the panel’s behalf.
https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Kamloops/494408/Kamloops-man-loses-appeal-of-conviction-stemming-from-large-bust-of-troubling-child-pornography
Devan Shane Wallis, 34, was sentenced last year after he was convicted following a trial in B.C. Supreme Court on one count of possession of child pornography.
Court heard Wallis ended up on the radar of Mounties after American law enforcement officials provided a tip about an IP address in Kamloops being used to upload child pornography to 4chan — a website where users share images, often anonymously.
Police executed a search warrant on July 7, 2020, at the Valleyview apartment Wallis shared with his girlfriend. Nearly 800 files depicting child pornography — 746 images and 42 videos — were found on Wallis’ devices.
The contents of the videos and images were described in court. Some of them depicted toddlers being actively sexually assaulted and others showed bestiality. A prosecutor described the material as "troubling."
Wallis was sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by two years of probation. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 20 years and submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database.
Wallis appealed his conviction on the grounds that the judge improperly admitted his cellphone as evidence. He argued the phone was not covered by the warrant police had at the time.
A three-judge B.C. Court of Appeal panel did not agree.
“The warrant authorized the police to search for cellphones or mobile devices that would afford evidence of a child-pornography offence,” Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten wrote in a decision on the panel’s behalf.
https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Kamloops/494408/Kamloops-man-loses-appeal-of-conviction-stemming-from-large-bust-of-troubling-child-pornography
