Prosecutors Charge Suspect With Evidence Tampering After A Seized iPhone Is Wiped Remotely

from the lots-of-missing-info-here dept

Going on little more than their belief a phone may contain evidence in a drive-by shooting case, prosecutors in Schenectady, New York are charging a suspect with destroying evidence.

A cellphone seized by police as part of an investigation into a drive-by shooting last month was remotely wiped by its owner, authorities said this week. Police believe Juelle L. Grant, 24, of Willow Avenue, may have been the driver of a vehicle involved in an Oct. 23 drive-by shooting on Van Vranken Avenue, near Lang Street, so they obtained her phone, according to police allegations filed in court. No one was injured in the shooting. After police took her iPhone X, telling her it was considered evidence, "she did remotely wipe" the device, according to police. "The defendant was aware of the intentions of the police department at the conclusion of the interview with her," according to court documents.

Grant now faces three felonies: two counts of evidence tampering and one count of hindering prosecution. One count of evidence tampering related to the alleged phone wipe. The other two counts listed are related to concealing the shooter's identity and disposing of the weapon used.

Grant purchased a new iPhone some time after her other one was seized. It could be her logon from a new device erased files on her old one, but that seems unlikely and the dates don't really line up. Her lawyer says she got a new phone "days after" the cops took her first one, but the documents alleging evidence tampering says it happened less than 24 hours after the alleged drive-by. Supposedly, Grant isn't a "computer-savvy person," according to her attorney, but it's not all that tough to do even for someone with limited tech skill

The easiest method for remote wiping would be using Apple's "Find My iPhone" feature, which has "Erase iPhone" right on the landing page. This seems to be the likeliest explanation for what happened, although it may be Grant herself did not trigger the remote wipe.

And there are unanswered questions about law enforcement's handling of the seized iPhone. Have they not heard of Faraday cages/bags? That exact question was posed to law enforcement by The Daily Gazette. The first answer was a deflection:

Asked last Wednesday evening if such technology was available to city detectives, police spokesman Sgt. Matthew Dearing said he did not know but would check with detectives. He indicated late Thursday afternoon that he had yet to hear back from them.

One week later, there's still no answer.

A message Monday morning asking Dearing if he had yet heard back from detectives was not immediately returned.

Finally, there's another question that needs to be answered by law enforcement as it moves forward with these charges: how likely is it that there's evidence of a drive-by shooting on a person's phone? That probability -- an essential part of "probable cause" -- seems a little low. Sure, cops might have found a judge willing to believe a person's phone is just something that collects evidence of any and all criminal activity until law enforcement needs it, but there's always a chance the judge might actually demand justification for searching a phone seized from a drive-by shooting driver.

With the alleged "evidence" now allegedly maliciously deleted, law enforcement might be off the probable cause hook. But it shouldn't be. It should have to justify its original search plans before it can move forward with evidence tampering charges. From what's been presented in this coverage, it doesn't appear law enforcement has a solid basis for the search it never got to perform.

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Filed Under: evidence, iphone, new york, police

Companies: apple