ipl-logo

Computer Forensics: A Career As A Defense Attorney

1255 Words6 Pages

When you are charged with a computer crime, you want an attorney that will do everything he or she can to defend you. Staying out of prison, avoiding a criminal record and protecting your family is important to you. Then why would you hire an attorney for a computer crime if that attorney doesn't know anything about computer forensics?

As an attorney, we have to be experts in everything. That's what makes this job so fun. While we cannot be experts in everything all of the time, we need to have a basic understanding of the issues that we will face. Its the same reason why the days of the general practitioner are pretty much dead. There is just too much out there to know. Thus, I don't expect that many attorneys will become a computer forensics …show more content…

Again, while a defense expert can help, they should not be relied upon to interpret the entire case. In my cases, I rarely need my expert to tell me what the defenses are. Instead, I need the expert to testify as I cannot.

Just about every computer crime case involves some degree of computer forensics. If the defense attorney just assumes that police are correct, then the attorney is not properly defending the client. Computer forensics involves the collection, preservation, filtering and presentation of digital evidence. In each stage of this process, something can go seriously wrong that could make it seem like the client is guilty when they are in fact, innocent.

Collection of digital evidence is when artifacts considered to be of evidentiary value are identified and collected. They can take the forms of external disks, computers, phones, video game consoles, servers and any other device capable of recording data. The large number of storage devices and their ever decreasing size present a big problem for law enforcement. For defense attorneys, who collects this evidence and how is very important to the case especially when non-law enforcement people collect …show more content…

Evidentiary/suspect files are extracted and non-suspect files are filtered out. Due to the increasing size of hard drives and the lack of staff, this process can take many months. The computer crime defense lawyer must have a good grasp on exactly what the examiner is doing and why. Quite often, the examiner will rely upon automated tools to speed up the filtering process. While this allows them to "cut to the chase" pretty quickly, it may also present one side of the story. Defense lawyers cannot rely upon their own experts to know what to look for when crafting a defense. Instead, they must have a grasp of everything the examiner could have done but chose not to for whatever reason. What files were not examined? What settings were used with the automated tools? As a result, what files were ignored and why? What do those files show? What could they have shown? To be effective, the state must nail down everything. When they don't, they hand the defense a blank slate to which the defense attorney can write down and present to the jury, just about

Show More
Related
1731 Words | 7 Pages

Technology has gained much importance in the aspects of everyday life. From how people choose to entertain themselves, or even on a larger scale like the advancement in technological devices used to save lives. So there is no mystery that technology has not impacted and placed its role in the legal system of the United States in the field of Forensic Science. More so that technology hasn 't replaced all things in the legal system, such as having a machine/robot in who speaks with the defendant or withholds all documents. If anything Forensic Science can be seen as the backbone of the legal system because forensic science plays a major role in the outcome of cases.

Read More
620 Words | 3 Pages

During the comprehensive forensic examination Assante’s personal laptop was subjected to an eighteen hour intrusive search using specialized equipment to open and read all files on the laptop, scanning the unallocated space on the hard drive for deleted files, then proceeding to

Read More
564 Words | 3 Pages

When a person has been charged with a crime, it's after the police have conducted an investigation. There are many times when the investigation has caused the police to arrest the wrong individual. The accused has the right to have their own investigation conducted by professional detectives working for the defense. Defense attorneys can have their own in-house criminal defense investigator to find facts and evidence that will proclaim their clients' innocence. (-- removed HTML --) Associate Degree Criminal Justice (-- removed HTML --)

Read More
1478 Words | 6 Pages

There are 5 main procedures for discovery. The first is an automatic discovery. There are 5 parts to the automatic discovery. The first part is the mandatory discovery of the defendant. This rule states that "the prosecutor must disclose any evidence that was discovered by the police including any oral and/or written statements, any facts, the names, addresses, and dates of birth of the witnesses, photographs, etc. to the defense attorney and the defendant."

Read More
1167 Words | 5 Pages

Presentation of Evidence: In order to try to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecution will first present its case. This evidence may include witnesses, records, and forensic data. After then, the defence will get a chance to question the witnesses for the prosecution. Defense's Case:

Read More
995 Words | 4 Pages

However, the opinion of the court did not stop there. Justice Blackmun offered a four-pronged test, employed by most US States even today, which guide judges in assessing acceptance of scientific and technical evidence. The four questions asked, applying to methodology rather than conclusions, should be the following: has the theory or technique been reliably tested, has it been the subject of publications and peer review, what are, if any the known or potential error rates, and finally has the theory been generally accepted as a standard in the scientific community. A few years later in 1999, the Court extended the scope of Daubert to cover technological expertise and to measure the methodology of technologists, thus making Computer Forensics fall within the ambit of the Daubert

Read More
169 Words | 1 Pages

A defense attorney represents the accused from arrest to final appeal. An individual accused of a crime has a constitutional right to counsel during every stage in the criminal process. Defense attorneys represent their clients before trial starting from arrest and through interrogation, lineup, and arraignment. They may negotiate a plea bargain with the prosecutor to avert a trial or defend their client at trial. Defense attorneys provide assistance at sentencing and appeal if the accused is convicted.

Read More
621 Words | 3 Pages

The author goes on to talk about how technology impacts an investigation and how detectives use technology to collect and record data. Future technology is also discussed in this article and how scientist predict future technology will produce more accurate results in cases. In the world today technology is not always right there is instances where technology have had negative results. This article is current and is a great source for my final project by giving me knowledge on how detectives use technology and science to complete their

Read More
1142 Words | 5 Pages

The forensic psychologist can either be a court-appointed evaluator or an employee of an attorney (Knapp, & VandeCreek, 2001). Since attorneys hire these psychologists, due to attorney-client privileges the attorney can pick and choose what information will be provided to the court of law. The ethical role of a forensic psychologist as an expert witness is just about the same as a regular psychologist. It involves being competent, informing consent, respecting the

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

Every day forensic investigators use tactics just like the ones that were discussed throughout the paper. It’s more than just looking for an admission of guilt, and interrogating potential suspects until they

Read More
364 Words | 2 Pages

In order to prove the defendant is guilty the prosecutor has to have knowledge of the case by studying and researching for evidence to use against the defendant.

Read More
945 Words | 4 Pages

Both sides then supply the proof via exhibits and testimony from witnesses. The criminal prosecution then provides a closing argument, then the closing argument from the defense

Read More
518 Words | 3 Pages

Presently, local law enforcement agencies fail to provide computer crime training to patrol personnel. The need for training on the entry level can prevent severe consequences in regard to prosecuting computer crimes, especially in the field while collecting evidence and protecting computer crime scenes. An untrained officer can inadvertly destroy computer crime evidence if not properly trained in the protecting evidence. Also in small agencies, entry level personnel do not posses the technical expertise needed to train new officers interested in becoming computer forensic specialist. More often the interested officer must seek training outside the department in the private industry or from the federal federal government.

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

Computer forensics processes must adhere to standards set by the courtroom that often complicates what could have been a simple data analysis. In court, knowing who connected to the system based on logs is not enough. There must be facts that will support those connection

Read More
1915 Words | 8 Pages

The following section will consider advantages and limitation of the first two mentioned types of digital forensics: Traditional (dead) and Live computer forensics. TRADITIONAL (DEAD) VS LIVE DIGITAL FORENSICS Traditional (Dead) Forensics In order forensic acquisition to be more reliable it must be performed on computers that have been powered off. This type of forensics is known as ‘traditional’ or 'dead ' forensic acquisition. The whole process of dead acquisition, including search and seizure flowchart and acquisition of digital evidence flowchart is shown on Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively.

Read More

More about Computer Forensics: A Career As A Defense Attorney

Related Topics

Open Document