Man Who Refused to Decrypt Hard Drives Still in Prison After Two Years

[Independent voter]

There has to be something really horrible on that hard drive.

The jail time is for contempt of court I think.






https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...ter-two-years/


Francis Rawls, a former Philadelphia cop, will remain in jail for refusing to decrypt a hard drive federal investigators found in his home two years ago during a child abuse investigation.

A judge ordered the man to prison almost two years ago after the suspect claimed he forgot the password of an encrypted Apple FileVault system investigators found attached to his computer while performing a house search.

Investigators said content stored on the encrypted hard drive matched file hashes for known child pornography content [source, page 5]. In addition, the man's sister told investigators that her brother had showed her numerous photos and videos of child abuse and adult material.

Rawls sent to prison in 2015
Authorities tried to make Rawls hand over the hard drive's password to verify claims, but he refused to comply. A federal judge found the man in contempt of court and sentenced him to an indefinite prison sentence until he was willing to cooperate.

Rawls said later he forgot the password and even entered three incorrect passwords during previous meetings with investigators.

The suspect appealed the indefinite prison sentence twice, but both appeals failed. His lawyers tried to argue that holding him breaches his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself, but appeal judges did not see it that way.

Judges pointed out that the Fifth Amendment only applies to witnesses and that the prosecutors didn't call him as a witness but only made a request for him to unlock his device, hence Fifth Amendment protections did not apply.

Rawls files appeal with the Supreme Court
Rawls' team has now filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court on the same grounds. His team also filed a request to have Rawls released during his Supreme Court appeal as he's been held in court for more than 18 months, the standard punishment for contempt of court.

A judge declined the request saying that Rawls was not charged under a standard law (28 USC § 1826), but under All Writs Act (28 U.S.C. § 1651), hence he can be detained indefinitely.

This ancient piece of legislation dictates that US citizens must aide any law enforcement investigation. The prosecution used this legal trickery to avoid calling Rawls as a witness. This is also the same piece of legislation the FBI used against Apple when it tried to force the company to unlock the phone of the San Bernardino mass-shooter.

The government also said that Rawls doesn't have to provide them with his password anymore, as they only need him to perform the act of unlocking the hard drive.

[Jaransan]

Yikes. Dude must have had some REALLY messed up crud on that hard drive. That said - the legal trickery involved seems underhanded - even if the courts used it to basically form an ironclad unappealable and infinite prison sentence for a dude moving child porn its somewhat awkward that noone sees that particular loop hole as problematic.

[Mistame]

Well this bit:

Judges pointed out that the Fifth Amendment only applies to witnesses and that the prosecutors didn't call him as a witness but only made a request for him to unlock his device, hence Fifth Amendment protections did not apply.

Is certainly wrong.

[Stelio Kontos]

Well this bit:



Is certainly wrong.

Where did you go to law school? How long have you been a judge?

[Machismo]

The guy is clearly a scumbag. However, he should not be in jail over a refusal to access a hard drive. It sounds like there should have been enough evidence to get him convicted without the hard drive.

[Flatspriest]

The judge is actually wrong since the law in America is innocent until proven guilty and it is not on you to prove your innocence, but the prosecution to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Regardless of how scummy the pedophile is, he still has rights under the constitution, and he is also receiving cruel and unusual punishment since he has not been convicted of a crime. Also, the fact that they are holding him in contempt of court means they are violating the 5th amendment as he was ordered to do something that might incriminate himself in court by a judge. If it were not in court, then he would not be able to be held in contempt.

[Mewhywhy]

1 Child molester less, i doubt anyone cares.

Good riddance hope he stays there "indefinite"

[Roxinius]

its where he kept all his nickelback stuff on the computer

[Sykol]

its where he kept all his nickelback stuff on the computer

"Look, if I let you guys in, do you promise just to look at the porn and nothing else?"

[Fugus]

The judge is actually wrong since the law in America is innocent until proven guilty and it is not on you to prove your innocence, but the prosecution to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Regardless of how scummy the pedophile is, he still has rights under the constitution, and he is also receiving cruel and unusual punishment since he has not been convicted of a crime. Also, the fact that they are holding him in contempt of court means they are violating the 5th amendment as he was ordered to do something that might incriminate himself in court by a judge. If it were not in court, then he would not be able to be held in contempt.

I believe they see at like unlocking a safe and such. It is one of those thing where, unlike a sentence, they see it as the prisoner having the keys to the cell himself.

Not 100% sure on it but I believe that is the logic. They aren't asking to incriminate himself with his own testimony, they are asking him to unlock something where they already have probable cause to believe it has illegal stuff on it with a warrant. And so, his rights aren't directly being violated because he has the keys to his cell figuratively and may leave any time he wish just by unlocking the device they already have the warrant to search.

[Mistame]

Where did you go to law school? How long have you been a judge?

Not everyone need a law degree to be capable of reading plainly-written English.

I believe they see at like unlocking a safe and such. It is one of those thing where, unlike a sentence, they see it as the prisoner having the keys to the cell himself. <snip>

The problem is that it's the responsibility of the authorities to gain access, not the defendant. If they find the key, they can use it. If it's a safe with a combination, they either have to figure out the combination or they're shit out of luck.

[Deleted]

1 Child molester less, i doubt anyone cares.

Good riddance hope he stays there "indefinite"

Alleged Child Abuser. Innocent till proven guilty means something to a lot of people.


No matter what the crime indefinte imprisonment without a trial is wrong and should be condemned at every turn, this is the realm of the most terrible of dictators.

[Deleted]

This is absolutely ridicilous.

[Deleted]

Kinda shows that the court and prosecutors do not have enough evidence to lock him up in the first place so instead they are jailing him for other reasons. If they had enough evidence to lock him up, he would have been sentenced for possession of pornography containing minors/children a long time ago.

[cparle87]

The judge is actually wrong since the law in America is innocent until proven guilty and it is not on you to prove your innocence, but the prosecution to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Regardless of how scummy the pedophile is, he still has rights under the constitution, and he is also receiving cruel and unusual punishment since he has not been convicted of a crime. Also, the fact that they are holding him in contempt of court means they are violating the 5th amendment as he was ordered to do something that might incriminate himself in court by a judge. If it were not in court, then he would not be able to be held in contempt.

Got to love all these armchair Supreme Court Justices in here.

Completely ignore the hard drive. It is 100% immaterial to him being in jail. He is in jail for refusing to obey a valid court order. There is no innocent until proven guilty or need to prove reasonable doubt because he has already proven himself guilty by noncompliance. Unless he's being tortured, having his biological requirements ignored, or being kept in solitary confinement he is not having cruel and unusual punishment inflicted upon him. Also the Fifth Amendment does not apply to him because, as the article specifically stated, it only applies to witnesses. He is not a witness.

- - - Updated - - -

Kinda shows that the court and prosecutors do not have enough evidence to lock him up in the first place so instead they are jailing him for other reasons. If they had enough evidence to lock him up, he would have been sentenced for possession of pornography containing minors/children a long time ago.

They believe he did something but can't prove it, so they make him plead to something lesser they could prove. Those are called plea bargains and they happen all the time. Right now he's in prison for defying a valid court order. Rather than appeal the imprisonment, why doesn't he try appealing the order that keeping him in prison for defying instead? Seems to me going for the cancer instead of the symptoms might be more effective. Go a higher court and get them to decide the court's order to hand it over is invalid, problem solved.

[Flatspriest]

Got to love all these armchair Supreme Court Justices in here.

Completely ignore the hard drive. It is 100% immaterial to him being in jail. He is in jail for refusing to obey a valid court order. There is no innocent until proven guilty or need to prove reasonable doubt because he has already proven himself guilty by noncompliance.

That is NOT how the courts are designed and supposed to work in the United States. What if he actually did just forget the password as he claimed? What if there is no child pornography or child abuse items on that drive at all? Who are you to judge when it comes to someone elses innocence without having actual proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?

[Vizardlorde]

The judge is actually wrong since the law in America is innocent until proven guilty and it is not on you to prove your innocence, but the prosecution to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Regardless of how scummy the pedophile is, he still has rights under the constitution, and he is also receiving cruel and unusual punishment since he has not been convicted of a crime. Also, the fact that they are holding him in contempt of court means they are violating the 5th amendment as he was ordered to do something that might incriminate himself in court by a judge. If it were not in court, then he would not be able to be held in contempt.

he is not in jail for child pornography he is in jail for not complying with a court order which he is guilty of.

[Fafnar]

I find the file hash argument invalid on the part of the government. If you do not know the encryption password, how do you know the encrypted data is what you think it is?

On the other hand he is essentially being jailed for not allowing a search warrant, isn't he?

[Fugus]

I find the file hash argument invalid on the part of the government. If you do not know the encryption password, how do you know the encrypted data is what you think it is?

On the other hand he is essentially being jailed for not allowing a search warrant, isn't he?

Pretty much.

They have a legit argument to search it as they have both the hashes that match and the mans own sister says she had seen it.

His whole argument is he forgot the password, so it comes down to how credible do they think it is that he forgot the password.

[Flatspriest]

I find the file hash argument invalid on the part of the government. If you do not know the encryption password, how do you know the encrypted data is what you think it is?

On the other hand he is essentially being jailed for not allowing a search warrant, isn't he?

They have the hard drive which is what the search warrant was for. What they do not have is his compliance with giving them the password which would be the same as the judge ordering him to give testimony for or against himself, which is a violation of the 5th amendment. The prosecution can hire someone to hack into the device. They cannot make him tell them anything though.