NORWICH – Chenango County Court Judge W. Howard Sullivan denied a request by the defense to throw out a New York State Police search warrant in a child pornography case that will likely be tested by a higher court in setting unprecedented case law.

Public Defender Alan Gordon raised the issue May 3 after a search warrant allowed state police to seize his client’s computer and other alleged images of child pornography.

“If it’s thrown out, then the evidence is gone, there is really no case,” said Gordon.

Gordon contested that officers made a critical error on the warrant by neglecting to mention the issuing court, which he claims is a fatal error according to New York State law.

“If you were served with this warrant, you wouldn’t have known where it came from,” he said.

“Scant case law on the subject exists – which explains why the People and the Defense rely on the same cases for their positions – and no prior decisions are directly on point,” state Sullivan in his five page, June 15, decision.

The defendant in the case, John M. Gavazzi, 47, of Greene, was arrested June 25, 2009 following an investigation by the technical arm of the New York State Police into child pornography Internet trafficking.