Relevant to encrypted data - I'm sure this won't fly in court but still, an interesting case as to whether someone must incriminate themselves by revealing a password to encrypted medium.
By Carl Hessler Jr. For TheReporterOnline.com
NORRISTOWN – A courtroom battle looms over a cell phone password currently held only by the former vice-principal in the North Penn School District who is accused of having inappropriate contact with two male students.
Montgomery County prosecutors on Wednesday filed court papers asking a judge to force Charles Daniel Hurst to produce the password for his phone, which is in the possession of prosecutors, or to turn over an unencrypted copy of the data maintained on his phone. Prosecutors believe data on the cell phone will corroborate a 13-year-old boy’s claim that Hurst sent him inappropriate, sexually charged text messages about masturbation.
“Here, the commonwealth is in physical possession of (Hurst’s) phone, but is unable to access the data contained on it without (Hurst’s) consent,” Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman wrote in court documents. “There is a strong likelihood that the evidence on the phone will be material, moreover, because the text messages stored on the phone will corroborate the testimony of minor witnesses.”
“On two occasions (Hurst) agreed to provide the password, but then failed to do so. Thereafter, (Hurst) twice refused to provide the password,” Cauffman alleged.
The battle could raise legal questions regarding whether a password is protected by the Fifth Amendment, which protects a witness from self-incrimination.
Text messages obtained from the teenage boy’s cell phone corroborated his description of the conversations and “the inappropriateness of (Hurst’s) relationship with him,” Cauffman maintained in court documents.
However, during the investigation last September, Hurst told police that his phone had been infected by the so-called “Cabir worm” virus which caused inappropriate text messages to be sent to his former student. Hurst, 37, of Somerset Court, Montgomery Township, also claimed that his cell phone service provider advised him to reset the phone to remove the virus from the phone, according to court documents.
“The commonwealth’s attempts to verify (Hurst’s) claims, and to recover the text messages sent to (the boy), have been unsuccessful because (Hurst’s) phone is password protected,” Cauffman claimed. “Without first entering the password necessary to unlock the phone, its contents remain encrypted and cannot be examined.”
According to court papers, Hurst, who is represented by defense lawyer Gregory Nester, has asked a judge to grant him access to the phone now held by prosecutors so that his own experts can perform forensic testing to show that the phone was infected by the Cabir worm virus.
But prosecutors contend Hurst is not entitled to have the phone returned because he doesn’t provide a “plausible reason” for that return. Prosecutors claim their investigation determined that the operating system on Hurst’s phone was not susceptible to infection by such a virus.
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Edited by poke smot! (09/07/20 01:22 PM)
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