Opinion
Marc Days, Days Law Firm, Fresno, California, Attorney for Defendant, RALPH DALE SHEPHERD.
PROTECTIVE ORDER CONCERNING DIGITAL MEDIA CONTAINNG CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
LAWRENCE J. O'NEILL, District Judge.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AS FOLLOWS:
1. An agent with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, or other law enforcement officer shall make a duplicate copy of the hard drive(s) and any other storage media available for defense analysis.
2. The duplicate copies of the hard drive and storage media shall be made available for defense counsel, Marc Days, and/or defendant's proposed expert(s) at Global CompuSearch, to review at a law enforcement office for the purpose of preparing for the defense of the above-entitled action. The contraband images on the hard drive and storage media shall not be viewed by another other person(s) unless defense counsel is present and the viewing is necessary to prepare for defendant's defense.
3. A room, on the premises of a law enforcement office, will be provided for the defense examination, no government agent will be inside the room;
4. The expert will be permitted to bring whatever equipment, books, or records the expert believes may be necessary to conduct the examination;
5. Neither the defense expert nor defense counsel shall remove the hard drive(s) or other storage media from the confines of the law enforcement office.
6. With the exception of materials which would be considered child pornography under federal law (including visual depictions and data capable of conversion into a visual depiction), the expert may download and remove files or portions of files, provided the forensic integrity of the hard drive is not altered. The expert will certify in writing (using the attached certification), that s/he has taken no materials which would be considered child pornography, or data capable of being converted into child pornography, (under federal law) and that s/he has not caused any child pornography to be sent from the law enforcement premises by any means including electronic transfer of files.
7. Except when defense counsel or any designated defense expert fails to provide this certification, no government agent, or any person connected with the government, will examine or acquire in any fashion any of the items used by the expert in order to conduct the defense analysis. Should defense counsel or a defense expert fail to certify that counsel or the expert has not copied or removed child pornography, or data capable of being converted into child pornography, government agents may then inspect or examine the materials, in order to ensure that prohibited child pornography has not been removed.
8. When the defense indicates that it is finished with its review of the copy of the hard drive(s), the drive(s) or other storage devices shall be "forensically wiped" unless the defense requests that they be preserved for future review or use.
9. Any disputes regarding the above provision or problems implementing this order shall be brought to the attention of the court through representative counsel after first consulting opposing counsel.
IT IS SO ORDERED.