No. 25-1169

Shawn Matthew Kearns v. Virginia

Lower Court: Virginia
Docketed: 2026-04-14
Status: Pending
Type: Paid
Tags: child-pornography computer-data forensic-evidence fourteenth-amendment gatekeeping sixth-amendment
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

The Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia Court of Appeals erred by affirming the verdict of the Trial Court and the Trial Court's rulings and conclusions and also erred by adopting or applying reasoning that supported those rulings or conclusions including additional reasoning supplied by the Appellate Courts. The evidence was insufficient to show that Shawn Kearns knowingly and intentionally possessed child pornography and Appellant's conviction and affirmance of that conviction on appeal violated his 6th and 14th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. The Courts from whom the Appellant appeals did not properly exercise their role as gatekeeper with respect to scientific evidence provided, and erred by refusing to recognize technological certainties in their role as gatekeeper thereby allowing data contained in allocated and unallocated space; which was without contradiction not readily accessible to a user, to be used as the basis for appellant's convictions for possession of child pornography.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the admission of forensic evidence regarding data in allocated and unallocated computer space, without proper gatekeeping review of technological certainty, violated a defendant's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights in a child pornography possession conviction where the evidence was insufficient to prove knowing and intentional possession

Docket Entries

2026-04-07
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 14, 2026)

Attorneys

Shawn Matthew Kearns
Joseph Abraham SanzoneSanzone & Baker, LLP., Petitioner