q1 “whether the defendant can 'establish a minimal factual nexus between a constitutional violation and the challenged evidence';”4 citing cases
- State v. Curry, 560 P.3d 694 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published See, e.g., Mansor, 363 Or at 218 (explaining that warrants for digital information “must identify, as specifically as reasonably possible in the circumstances, the information to be searched for, including, if relevant and available, the t…
- State v. James, 560 P.3d 747 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published See Turay, 371 Or at 162-63 (stating so).
q2 “an evidentiary dispute involves both a warrant-based search and unlawful police conduct”4 citing cases
- State v. Curry, 560 P.3d 694 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published See, e.g., Mansor, 363 Or at 218 (explaining that warrants for digital information “must identify, as specifically as reasonably possible in the circumstances, the information to be searched for, including, if relevant and available, the t…
- State v. James, 560 P.3d 747 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published See Turay, 371 Or at 162-63 (stating so).
q3 “combined some search categories that satisfied the constitution's particularity requirement with others that did not.”4 citing cases
- State v. Schult, 578 P.3d 694 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).published Turay, 371 Or at 164-68 (concluding that a mixed warrant to search a digital device, consisting of both valid and invalid search commands, created a presumption that the evidence discovered pursuant to the search of the device must be supp…
- State v. Curry, 560 P.3d 694 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published See, e.g., Mansor, 363 Or at 218 (explaining that warrants for digital information “must identify, as specifically as reasonably possible in the circumstances, the information to be searched for, including, if relevant and available, the t…
371 Or. at 164 Establishing nexus for challenging evidence from digital search5 citing casesconcluding that a mixed warrant to search a digital device, consisting of both valid and invalid search commands, created a presumption that the evidence discovered pursuant to the search of the device must be suppressed
- State v. Xie, 349 Or. App. 623 (Or. Ct. App. 2026).unpublishedHowever, in State v. Curry, 336 Or App 72, 86-87 , 560 P3d 694 (2024), we held that search categories authorizing police to search for, seize, and examine Nonprecedential Memo Op: 349 Or App 623 (2026) 629 the burden-shifting framework fro…
- State v. Schult, 578 P.3d 694 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).published (concluding that a mixed warrant to search a digital device, consisting of both valid and invalid search commands, created a presumption that the evidence discovered pursuant to the search of the device must be suppressed)
371 Or. at 152 Insufficiency of warrant particularity in law enforcement searches4 citing caseswarrant was insufficiently particular where it “omitted additional limiting factors that were known to law enforcement
- State v. DiMolfetto, 576 P.3d 1009 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).published(warrant was insufficiently particular where it “omitted additional limiting factors that were known to law enforcement)
- State v. Rose, 555 P.3d 336 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published The Supreme Court held that the warrant’s command to search for “[a]ny evidence regarding the locations, including geolocation information, of the phones” during a particular timeframe also was not specific enough, despite the timeframe li…
371 Or. at 151 Insufficiency of search warrant categories for evidence4 citing caseswarrant search categories of “any other evidence related to the crimes” under investigation and “any evidence related to” ride-share apps were insufficiently particular because they sought information “at any time, in any location, in any circumstance” and “both failed to include dates, subject mat…
- State v. Klaus, 351 Or. App. 738 (Or. Ct. App. 2026).published That means that the warrant “must not authorize a search that is broader than the supporting affidavit provides probable cause to justify.” Turay, 371 Or at 146 (internal quotation marks omitted).
- State v. Gaskill, 571 P.3d 769 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).published In Turay, the Supreme Court held that a search category allowing a search for “[a]ny other evidence” relating to prostitution- related crimes “failed to describe the evidence sought with any specificity.”5 Turay, 371 Or at 151 (emphasis in…
371 Or. at 146 cited at this page1 citing case
- State v. Klaus, 351 Or. App. 738 (Or. Ct. App. 2026).published That means that the warrant “must not authorize a search that is broader than the supporting affidavit provides probable cause to justify.” Turay, 371 Or at 146 (internal quotation marks omitted).
371 Or. at 149 cited at this page1 citing case
- State v. Meyers, 565 P.3d 463 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).published Thus, the standard announced in Mansor II, as clarified in Turay, is governed by a standard of reasonableness, and requires warrants that authorize a search for digital information on a defendant’s digital devices to “identify, as specific…
371 Or. at 141 explaining that specificity and overbreadth inform the particularity analysis “in any context2 citing cases
- State v. Curry, 560 P.3d 694 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published (explaining that the “specificity component” of the particularity requirement “gives rise to special requirements in the context of a warrant to search for digital data)
371 Or. at 162 stating so1 citing case
- State v. James, 560 P.3d 747 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published (stating so)
371 Or. at 145 Reject state argument regarding search category specificity3 citing casesrejecting the state’s argument that search categories are sufficiently specific “as long as its description permits law enforcement to identify with a reasonable degree of certainty whether a given piece of data falls within the search category, no matter how broad the scope of the description,” as…
- State v. Rose, 555 P.3d 336 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published The Supreme Court held that the warrant’s command to search for “[a]ny evidence regarding the locations, including geolocation information, of the phones” during a particular timeframe also was not specific enough, despite the timeframe li…
Other citing cases
- State v. Pitcher, 350 Or. App. 463 (Or. Ct. App. 2026).published
- State v. Beridon, 590 P.3d 605 (Or. Ct. App. 2026).published
- State v. Lea, 337 Or. App. 652 (Or. Ct. App. 2025).unpublished
- State v. Greenwood, 548 P.3d 831 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).published
- State v. De Witt Simons, 587 P.3d 311 (Or. 2026).published
v.
Turay
128 June 15, 2023 No. 15
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON
STATE OF OREGON, Petitioner on Review, v. AHMED GBANABOM TURAY, JR., Respondent on Review.
(CC 17CR59493) (CA A166973) (SC S068894)
On review from the Court of Appeals.* Argued and submitted May 3, 2022.
Peenesh Shah, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, argued the cause and filed the briefs for petitioner on review. Also on the briefs were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General.
Morgen E. Daniels, Deputy Public Defender, Office of Public Defense Services, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent on review. Also on the brief was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender.
Kelly K. Simon, American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, Portland, filed the brief for amici curiae the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. Also on the brief were Rachel Dallal, American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, Portland, and Jennifer Stisa Granick, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, San Francisco.
Before Flynn, Chief Justice, Duncan, Garrett, DeHoog, and Bushong, Justices, and Balmer and Walters, Senior Judges, Justices pro tempore.**
______________
* On appeal from the Washington County Circuit Court, Oscar Garcia, Judge. 313 Or App 45, 493 P3d 1058 (2021).
** Nelson, J., resigned February 25, 2023, and did not participate in the decision of this case. James, J., did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.
128_371.indd 128 6/15/2023 7:32:04 AM
FLYNN, C. J.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings.
Duncan, J., concurred and filed an opinion in which Walters, S. J., joined.
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130 State v. Turay
FLYNN, C. J.
Defendant in this criminal case was convicted of compelling prostitution, based in part on incriminating images and text messages that law enforcement found pursuant to a warrant to search his cell phone for nine categories of information (search categories). Defendant challenges the warrant, and that challenge presents the opportunity for this court to further consider the constitutional requirement that search warrants “particularly describe” the place to be searched or thing to be seized, Or Const, Art I, § 9, in the context of warrants that authorize law enforcement to search for digital data. See generally State v. Mansor, 363 Or 185, 421 P3d 323 (2018) (discussing and analyzing application of that “particularity” requirement to the search of a computer). And, because it is undisputed that the warrant in this case contained some search categories that failed to particularly describe the evidence sought, this case also requires us to decide whether and to what extent those unlawful search categories require suppression of evidence obtained through the search of defendant’s phone. That question, in turn, involves a two-step inquiry: whether the unlawful search categories invalidated the warrant in toto and, if not, how the trial court should determine whether Article I, section 9, prohibits the state from using evidence that it obtained through executing the partially unlawful warrant to search for digital data.
As explained below, we conclude that five of the nine search categories set out in the warrant to search defendant’s cell phone failed to satisfy the constitutional particularity requirement and, thus, that those categories failed to authorize a lawful search. We further conclude, however, that the inclusion of those unlawful search categories in the warrant does not necessarily require suppression of all evidence found on defendant’s phone, for the following reasons. First, because the state extracted and examined data from defendant’s phone in an effort to find evidence that no lawful category of the warrant authorized it to search for (in addition to the lawfully authorized categories), defendant has established a minimal factual nexus between a constitutional violation and the challenged evidence. Second, that minimal factual nexus undermines the presumption of
128_371.indd 130 6/15/2023 7:32:04 AM
validity that ordinarily attends warrant-based searches and therefore requires suppression unless the state establishes that the challenged evidence was not tainted by the constitutional violation. We finally conclude that, in this case, the appropriate disposition is a remand for development of a factual record and for the trial court to make the required factual findings under the correct legal standard.
I. FACTS
The search warrant at issue authorized law enforcement to search two cell phones belonging to defendant. The affidavit supporting that warrant recited that Detective Opitz of the Beaverton Police Department had obtained information in August 2017 that had prompted him to suspect that defendant and an adult female, Gregg, were promoting and compelling a 17-year-old victim, J, into prostitution. Opitz located “numerous prostitution related postings” associated with Gregg—some with Gregg and the victim advertised as a “2 for 1” deal—on websites that he knew to be used by individuals offering sex for sale. Opitz then set up an undercover prostitution engagement with J by text message, including an arranged date, time, location, and price. On that arranged day, Opitz saw a car arrive at the designated parking lot just as J texted to say that she was arriving. Opitz recognized J when she exited the car, and other officers then stopped the car and arrested the driver—defendant. During an ensuing search of the car, officers found and seized two cell phones that they determined belonged to defendant.
Opitz later interviewed J, who told Opitz how she used her own cell phone to conduct business—that she had used her phone to communicate with customers and that she had posted, but not paid for, advertisements on a prostitution-related website (the website). She also told Opitz that she had met Gregg about 12 weeks prior and that Gregg had introduced her to defendant and also to prostitution. J further recounted that both Gregg and defendant knew that she was a minor; that she had engaged in joint prostitution engagements together with Gregg; and that she and defendant were “boyfriend/girlfriend,” but also that defendant and Gregg had been in a relationship. Not long
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132 State v. Turay thereafter, defendant was indicted on one count of compelling prostitution in relation to J, ORS 167.017.
Opitz then prepared an affidavit and accompanying search warrant to search various cell phones, including the two belonging to defendant.1 The affidavit included extensive information about Opitz’s background and training, as well as several statements—based on his knowledge and experience—relating to the connection between sex traf- ficking and the use of the internet and cell phones. Those aspects of the affidavit further discussed how various information could be stored and retrieved on cell phones, including an explanation of various cell phone features. The affidavit then described facts relating to the investigation of defendant, including those set out above.2
Finally, the affidavit identified the cell phones to be searched—including defendant’s phones—and described nine search categories of digital data to be searched for, seized, and analyzed:
“(1) Any and all communications (voice, email, text, or otherwise) between [J, defendant,] and/or * * * Gregg. “(2) Evidence related to the relationship between [J, Gregg,] and/or [defendant].
“(3) Evidence regarding any communications (voice, email, text, or otherwise) involving prostitution related activities.
“(4) Any photos of [J, defendant, or Gregg] that show an association with prostitution including any profiting from prostitution.
“(5) Images, videos and/or data which depict [J or Gregg] in sexually explicit positions or conduct that relate to internet postings or advertisements.
The warrant also authorized the search of two cell phones belonging to J and another belonging to Gregg, but defendant’s motion to suppress concerned only defendant’s phones, and the record reflects that only one of defendant’s phones was ultimately searched.
The affidavit also stated that, in mid-September 2017, defendant and Gregg each had been indicted in federal district court on one count of sex traf- ficking of a minor. We discuss additional detail from the affidavit later in this opinion.
128_371.indd 132 6/15/2023 7:32:04 AM “(6) Any evidence related to use of internet sites associated with prostitution, including [the website] for a period of time 06/15/2017 to 09/06/2017. “(7) Any evidence related to the use of Uber or other ride-sharing or taxicab companies.
“(8) Any evidence regarding the locations, including geolocation information, of the phones for a period of time from 06/15/2017 to 09/06/2017.
“(9) Any other evidence related to the crimes of Prostitution
(ORS 167.007), Promoting Prostitution (ORS 167.012) and/or Compelling Prostitution (ORS 167.017).”3 The accompanying warrant was attached to the affidavit and repeated that wording verbatim.
A magistrate issued the warrant, and another detective, McNair, executed the search on all the phones listed in the warrant, using proprietary software that enabled the forensic examination of mobile devices. From one of defendant’s cell phones, McNair retrieved two types of evidence: multiple incriminating photographs of J and others, some of which were screenshots from the website; and two extraction reports that set out multiple incriminating text messages between that phone and a contact named “baby,” whom Opitz had determined to be J.4 Notably, other than McNair’s explanation at trial about how the software functioned as a general matter and also about the nature of the extraction reports that showed the text messaging, no testimony or other material in the record below described how the search of defendant’s phone actually had been conducted—for example, the record does not show whether all, or just some, data was extracted before being analyzed; it does not show the order in which certain steps of the process occurred; and it does not show whether each of the described categories of evidence from the warrant was the subject of its own search when the incriminating evidence was discovered.
The parties refer to those nine search categories as “search commands,” but they are not “search commands” in the technical sense—instead, they are separately described categories of the digital data that was the object of the search.
One extraction report was more comprehensive than the other, setting out similar, but also more extensive, text messaging between defendant and a contact who turned out to be J.
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134 State v. Turay
Before trial, defendant moved to suppress all evidence resulting from the search of his cell phone, arguing that the warrant had violated the particularity requirement set out in Article I, section 9.5 The trial court denied that motion, and the state thereafter introduced the incriminating photos and text messages at trial. A jury convicted defendant on one count of compelling prostitution, and he appealed.
On appeal, defendant renewed his argument that the state had obtained the incriminating evidence in violation of the particularity requirement and that the trial court therefore should have granted his motion to suppress. In addressing those contentions, the Court of Appeals first determined that three of the search categories described in the warrant—the third, the fifth, and the sixth—satisfied the particularity requirement. State v. Turay, 313 Or App 45, 60, 61-62, 493 P3d 1058 (2021). But that court concluded that the remaining six categories fell short—either due to the absence of various limiting detail (such as location, time, or subject matter), or because they otherwise lacked the requisite specificity to permit the executing officer to reasonably identify the information sought. Id. at 58-62. Finally, the court concluded that, because it could not determine from the record which (if any) aspects of the state’s challenged evidence had been discovered through execution of one of the three lawful search categories, it must remand to the trial court for further development of the record about how the forensic search of defendant’s cell phone in fact had been conducted. Id. at 65-66.
The state petitioned for review, challenging the decision of the Court of Appeals. Although the state concedes that some of the search categories described in the warrant were insufficiently particular, it challenges the Court of Appeals’ other key conclusion that other search categories failed to satisfy the constitutional particularity requirement, and it contends that no remand is needed because all the challenged evidence was properly admitted The Court of Appeals’ stated disposition was to vacate the trial court’s judgment and then remand for a determination of how the search had been conducted. Turay, 313 Or App at 66. We conclude, however, that the appropriate disposition is to reverse (not vacate) the trial court’s judgment, with remanded proceedings as described later in this opinion. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part the decision of the Court of Appeals.
The warrant in Mansor itself had merely authorized the seizure and search of the computers (and other equipment); it had contained no detail about the information sought or how the computers were to be analyzed. One issue in that case therefore involved the extent to which the attached affidavit could be considered as providing the “particularity” description required of the warrant, with the court concluding that it would consider the object of the search described in the affidavit to be part of the warrant. 363 Or at 203. For clarity here, references to the “warrant” in Mansor mean the warrant read in conjunction with the attached affidavit.
Overbreadth as an aspect of the particularity inquiry differs from the fundamental requirement of Article I, section 9, that “no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath, or affirmation.” The overbreadth inquiry arises even when there is probable cause for a warrant to issue and asks, essentially, whether an individual search category reaches beyond the scope of the probable cause that supports the warrant.
Unlike Mansor, this case does not involve the question whether execution of the warrant exceeded its defined scope.
We note that the specificity requirement may at times be conflated with the related concept of overbreadth—for example, a description that is insufficiently specific creates a risk that the description will be understood by officers to authorize a broader search than the probable cause supports. But that lack of a clear description is more precisely a specificity problem; rather than “autho- riz[ing] a search that is broader than” probable cause would support, the lack of specificity creates ambiguity about the scope of the search that is authorized. See Mansor, 363 Or at 212 (describing those “related, but distinct, concepts” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Although the concepts are related, they are distinct and call for distinct analysis.
The warrant in Trax had “listed the street address of what turned out to be a multi-unit dwelling” and named the defendants as persons to be searched. 335 Or at 604. Because officers were able to learn which unit belonged to the defendants and “then searched only that residence,” this court concluded that the warrant satisfied the particularity requirement. Id. The warrant in Cortman had named the defendant and identified his apartment building by street number, but had not specified an apartment number; however, the executing officer had known in which apartment the defendant resided and searched only that apartment. The court concluded that, because the officer had been able to execute the warrant “without straying into premises which he ha[d] no authority to enter,” the warrant had not been fatally defective under the particularity requirement. 251 Or at 568-69.
Challenges to how a digital search was carried out, including claims that law enforcement examined more data than the scope of the search categories justified, are challenges to the execution of the warrant. But the execution of the warrant is not at issue here.
Although the Court of Appeals faulted the second category as “so broad that nearly anything could be contemplated,” Turay, 313 Or App at 59 (emphasis added), we emphasize that the crux of that determination focused on a lack of specificity, not “overbreadth” in the sense that the description reached more broadly “than the supporting affidavit supplies probable cause to justify.” See Mansor, 363 Or at 212 (internal quotation marks omitted).
We emphasize that Mansor’s description of the particularity requirement, when applied to warrants to search for digital data, assumes that the “intrusion”—the officer’s acquisition of the proverbial “haystack” in which the needle will be found—will include “at least some information that is beyond the scope of the warrant,” 363 Or at 220, but the scope of that intrusion is still limited by the requirement that the information sought must be described with as much specificity “as reasonably possible in the circumstances.” Id. at 218.
The affidavit described that J met Gregg about 12 weeks before defendant’s arrest; that Gregg had introduced J to defendant and to prostitution, including how to post advertisements online; that online advertisements had included a photograph of J and Gregg, posing in front of a car that resembled the car that defendant had been driving on the day of his arrest; that J had earned most of her money engaging in prostitution by going on “duo” engagements with Gregg; that Gregg took and kept the money that they made together and that J assumed that Gregg later gave the money to defendant; that the three had lived together for a time at Gregg’s home, with many of J and Gregg’s prostitution engagements occurring there; that J “[did] prostitution dates” for defendant; and that, at the time of his arrest, defendant had been holding funds that J had earned from a recent engagement. Thus, the first category, although insufficiently specific, was not overbroad with regard to communications between J and defendant and between J and Gregg.
The state contends that, in assessing the eighth described category as unduly broad, the Court of Appeals may have been more concerned with overbreadth than specificity. But we do not read the Court of Appeals’ decision as concluding that the eighth category fell short as to overbreadth; rather, the Court of Appeals concluded—and we agree—that the wide-ranging scope of information described fell short on specificity. See Turay, 313 Or App at 59 (“The eighth command * * * likewise lacks specificity[.]” (Emphasis added.)).
We understand the state to have expressed concern that the manner in which warrants to search for digital data are executed could make it difficult for the state to show that a particular search category did not affect the discovery of particular evidence. If that continues to be true, then it is particularly important that law enforcement avoid requesting, and magistrates avoid issuing, warrants that include the kind of search categories that the state now concedes were insufficiently particular.