Ask Your New Jersey Federal Criminal Defense Attorney About Searching Your Computers

Searching Your Computers

When it comes to searching computers, law enforcement officers have to be very specific with regards to their warrant applications. As your New Jersey federal criminal defense attorney will explain, getting permission to open one file on a hard drive doesn’t give them permission to open all the files. If there was an inappropriate search of your computer, your New Jersey federal criminal defense lawyer can argue that the evidence gathered should be dismissed. That would be a huge advantage for your defense.

File Name Challenges

Your New Jersey federal criminal defense attorney will remind you that securing a warrant means that law enforcement officers have to have probable cause. This could begin with what is in plain view of the officers. For instance, if you allow an officer in your home and they see contraband out in the open on a table, they could be within their rights to search the home for more contraband. Yet files on a computer are rarely in plain sight. When the police go poking around there without a warrant, your Trenton federal criminal defense lawyer can claim your Fourth Amendment rights were violated.

The basis for your New Jersey federal criminal defense attorney arguments could come down to a matter of file extension. A warrant that seeks to search emails with EML extensions doesn’t mean those investigators can automatically open files with JPG extensions. Your Trenton federal criminal defense lawyer can point out that applies to DOC or RTF types of files as well. As much as prosecutors would like to treat your computer like a filing cabinet, that likely won’t stand up in court. A skilled Trenton federal criminal defense attorney will be on top of those types of violations.