Basic facts: Officers receive a complaint regarding photography of underage female. An evidentiary search warrant is run allowing for the search and seizure of all electronic equipment, storage media, etc. The warrant authorizes the transfer of the evidence for the purposes of completing any necessary search (i.e. to computer forensic laboratory within Texas).

Defense counsel is convinced that a forensic examination requires the issuance of an independent search warrant. Any one dealt with this issue?

That doesn't sound like a very successful argument.


US v. Upham, 168 F.3d 532, 536 (1st Cir. 1999) ("The warrant explicitly authorized the seizure of both the computer plus diskettes and the unlawful images. The images—we ignore the deletion question for the moment—were “inside” the computer or diskettes. The extraction of unlawful images from within the computer and diskettes was therefore contemplated by the warrant."

State v. Powell, 306 S.W.3d 761 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (dealt with a safe)

I really think the defense attorney is confused between your situation and the common one wherein an electronic device is seized in a traffic stop and the officer actually does need a search warrant. The difference is that in the traffic stop scenario, the officer didn't already have a search warrant allowing for the search, seizure, and forensic analysis of the electronics.

Check out article 38.35(b)