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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon, Thread III
The Source - XXL - The Root - etc

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 1 – Bryan Pivnick is in detention after being charged with distribution of child pornography.

On October 1 his motion to suppress the contents of his iPhone and iPad seized on May 29 during an FBI "knock and talk" at his apartment on West 103rd Street in Manhattan resulted in an hour and a half evidentiary hearing before Judge P.  Kevin Castel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

   What emerged at the hearing is that the FBI agents did not bring with them a Miranda form, but did get Pivnick's verbal then written consent to search his phone (where they found child pornograph including of infants and toddler).

    Timing is or will be everything: some of FBI Agent Aaron Spivack's searching of the Telegram application on Pivnick's iPhone was done between the verbal consent and the written consent obtained by Agent Matthew Deragon minutes later.  

Pivnick's retained counsel Matthew D. Myers on cross examination explored whether Pivnick before his phone was seized had been trying to call a lawyer, or rather his boyfriend James whose 11 year old brother Pivnick is described in the complaint against him as "grooming."   

On October 1 the 11 year old's first name was said from the witness stand. His mother, in the courtroom as she had been as Pivnick's initial presentment in the SDNY Magistrates Court on May 30, stood up and objected.

    Myers assured her that only the first name had been used. But he used the last name in his most recent application for bail, which Judge Castel revoked back on September 3.

    After the two FBI agents testified and were cross-examined, Assistant US Attorney Thomas John Wright rested. Myers after whispering with Pivnick said that he too rested. Judge Castel was prepared to hear final arguments from both counsel at 2 pm and then rule - but Myers asked for two weeks to submit a legal brief about the hearing.

   Judge Castel asked, On what issues?

     Myers said that the agents' testimonies were inconsistent and that he wanted to further research the law concerning the consent to search.

    Judge Castel asked rhetorically if Myers is trying to bill his client to simply go over again what the two witnesses had just said. He emphasized that the testimony was today fresh in his mind, as the trier of fact. But he gave Myers the requested two weeks to brief the issue, and the government a week after that.

    The next appearance is set for November 14, with the trial scheduled for January 28, 2020. Inner City Press, which has covered it from Pivnick's presentation in the Magistrates Court through the revocation of his bail and now pending motion to suppress evidence, will continue to follow this case. It is US v. Pivnick, 19-cr-464 (Castel).