Two recent cases in the news confirms the role that cell phone evidence is playing in cases around the country. First , Tom Brady destroyed his cellphone in March of this year right after the folks investigating asked for the cell phone. Mr.Brady claimed it was his routine practice to destroy his old cell phone even though two of his old phones were still around.It appears there were a high amount of texts between Mr.Brady and equipment manager John Jastremski days after deflategate was discovered. Mr.Brady was lucky it was just a NFL investigation. Under Tennessee criminal law. Mr. Brady would be facing a felony tampering with evidence charge. The second case is an opinion for the 6th Circuit Court of the U.S. Court of Appeals. a man inadvertently pocket dialed a person. The court held there was no expectation of privacy during an accidental cell phone call.
Folks use cell phones for a variety of purposes. texts messages come up in all types of cases from drug cases to domestic violence cases. If you put incriminating evidence on your cell phone , expect the police to get a search warrant for your phone.
Here is some tips;
- Don’t store anything on your phone you would not want your mother to see.
- Password protect your phone.
- Don’t text message threats of violence.
- Just because you delete the text , it is still there.
One last thing , just because Tom Brady destroyed his phone does not mean the evidence is gone. The chips might still be around. I think I am going back to a rotary phone.