The Wisconsin Examiner is reporting that the District III Court of Appeals has certified a case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court that will test the limits of law enforcement’s ability to download, access, store, and share data obtained from cell phones and other mobile devices.
The case is fascinating because of the degree that electronic evidence and digital forensics have played in determining the case’s outcome. CBS’ Forty Eight Hours program recently profiled this case.
In the 2018 criminal trial, the attorney for the defendant filed a motion to suppress incriminating information from the defendant’s cell phone. It turns out this cell phone data was obtained from a different police agency that had investigated the defendant in a completely separate matter.
The motion was ultimately denied and the defendant was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide due, in part, to the evidence provided by the cell phone data. Interestingly, another suspect was exonerated because of biometric information provided by a FitBit fitness tracker.
It will be interesting to watch this case’s outcome and the guidance it produces for law enforcement and attorneys when dealing with collected mobile device data.
In past posts, we have talked about the astonishing amount of discoverable data in the Cloud and mobile devices, a trend that is only accelerating. We urge all legal professionals to engage a digital forensics professional when attempting to secure digital evidence from mobile devices or Cloud accounts.
If you are facing a legal issue where mobile device or Cloud data has already been obtained, a digital forensics professional can devise a digital evidence strategy to strengthen your legal stance.
As always, Data Narro is here to help! Give us a call if you need to discuss a digital forensics or eDiscovery challenge. Initial consultations on discovery matters are always complimentary.
Links:
Wisconsin Examiner:
Cell data recovery by police is new privacy frontier for courts
CBS Forty Eight Hours:
21st century technology used to help solve Wisconsin mom’s murder