State v. Simmons

Syllabus

Appellant was convicted of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the second degree. This Court certified the case from the Court of Appeals pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR, to consider whether: (1) section 16-15-405 of the South Carolina Code, which criminalizes the sexual exploitation of a minor, is unconstitutionally overbroad (2) the trial court erred in finding Simmons opened the door to the introduction of a computer forensic examiner's testimony regarding the contents of an external hard drive (3) the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant and (4) the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on third-party guilt. While we uphold the constitutionality of section 16-15-405 and the validity of the search warrant, we reverse Simmons' convictions because the trial court erred in finding defense counsel opened the door.