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Legal suspects can refuse to offer telephone passcodes to police beneath the US Structure’s Fifth Modification privilege towards self-incrimination, in keeping with a unanimous ruling issued as we speak by Utah’s state Supreme Court docket. The questions addressed within the ruling might finally be taken up by the US Supreme Court docket, whether or not by evaluate of this case or the same one.
The case entails Alfonso Valdez, who was arrested for kidnapping and assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Law enforcement officials obtained a search warrant for the contents of Valdez’s telephone however could not crack his passcode.
Valdez refused to offer his passcode to a police detective. At his trial, the state “elicited testimony from the detective about Valdez’s refusal to offer his passcode when requested,” as we speak’s ruling stated. “And through closing arguments, the State argued in rebuttal that Valdez’s refusal and the ensuing lack of proof from his cellphone undermined the veracity of certainly one of his defenses. The jury convicted Valdez.”
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