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When law enforcement officials execute warrants for electronic data, they usually create a mirror image of hard drives and other electronic storage media. In recent years, it has become more common for law enforcement to keep every bit and byte they obtain from doing so. But the Second Circuit's June 17 opinion in United States v. Ganias should put a stop to this practice, thanks to the successful advocacy of Day Pitney's Stanley A. Twardy Jr., Daniel E. Wenner and John W. Cerreta.
In Ganias, federal agents obtained a search warrant to search the computers of Stavros Ganias, a CPA, for evidence regarding purported wrongdoing by an accounting client. Instead of taking Ganias's computers, the agents mirror-imaged three hard drives, which included large quantities of data outside the warrant's scope. Twenty-three months later, when the agents decided to pursue an investigation of Ganias himself, they obtained a new search warrant and used it to search those mirror images for evidence of alleged wrongdoing by Ganias. The trial court denied Ganias's suppression motion, and the evidence found on the mirror-imaged hard drives was used to convict him. Ganias appealed the denial of his pretrial suppression motion.
On appeal, Day Pitney argued that this practice effectively turned lawful search warrants into unlawful general warrants, thereby contravening the Fourth Amendment. The Second Circuit agreed, reversing the denial of suppression and vacating Ganias's conviction. The court held that even in the face of changing technology, the Fourth Amendment does not permit officials to seize and indefinitely retain electronic files outside a warrant's scope. As a result, the government will no longer be allowed to retain indefinitely mirror-image files seized outside the scope of a lawful warrant.
For a summary of the opinion, click here. To read about the importance of the opinion, click here, here, here or here. To read the opinion, click here.
On May 26, Washington, D.C. Counsel Steven Cash will be guest speaking at The University of Texas, Intelligence Studies Project "Texas Intelligence Academy."
Day Pitney Commercial Litigation and White Collar Partner Naju R. Lathia and Employment and Labor and Regulated Substances Attorney Daniel Pierre authored the article, "Proceed with Caution: NJ's Green Lighting of Recreational Cannabis May Require Detours," for the New Jersey Law Journal.
New York Litigation Partner Sarah Krissoff was featured on Australia's "A Current Affair" television program discussing the $450 million superyacht, called the Amadea, that was boarded by Fijian Police as part of the U.S. Government's KleptoCapture Task Force.
Day Pitney White Collar and General Criminal Defense Partner Sarah Krissoff was featured in Reuters' Fast Take video titled, "Trump's Consequences for Ignoring N.Y. Subpoena."
Day Pitney White Collar and General Criminal Defense Partner Sarah Krissoff was quoted in the Reuters article, "New York Judge Holds Trump in Contempt for Failing to Comply with Subpoena."
On April 11, Day Pitney White Collar and General Criminal Defense partner Sarah Krissoff was a guest on Court TV, where she provided commentary on the cases of the day.
Day Pitney White Collar Partner Sarah Krissoff was featured in The List's article, "Ghislaine Maxwell's Family Sounds Off About The Court's Latest Ruling In Her Case."
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This website may use cookies, pixel tags and other passive tracking technologies, including Google Analytics, to improve functionality and performance. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. By using our website, you are consenting to our use of these tracking technologies. You can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse to accept cookies, but if you do so, it is possible that some areas of web sites that use cookies will not function properly when you view them. To learn more about how to delete and manage cookies, refer to the support instructions for each browser (e.g., see AllAboutCookies.org). You may locate Google Analytics' currently available opt-outs for the web here.