DEFENDING CRIMINAL POSSESSION / DISTRIBUTION OF CONTRABAND

FCS has provided defense counsel with expert services in numerous possession and/or distribution of contraband (typically child pornography) in multiple federal, state and circuit jurisdictions. We are seasoned in the procedures and protocols used by law enforcement agencies and we use a majority of the same forensic tools in our examination.

In most cases the government forensic experts almost never look at HOW the data got onto the computer or any other computer related issues which may be beneficial to the defendant.

Part of our work is investigating these primary areas for the defense:

• Did law enforcement properly acquire the data to DOJ standards?
• Is the evidence tainted due to the procedures used by law enforcement
• The Chain of Custody
• Comprehensive review of the evidence for presence of viruses, trojans and other malicious software
• Obtain dates and times for a possible alibi
• Ascertain if "file sharing" was enabled on the computer media which may have allowed third parties to place files on the media
• Assist you in making a legal determination if there is proof the defendant knowingly possessed and/or distributed the alleged material in the indictment
• Offer an opinion if other persons may have accessed the computer media

We will provide you, upon request, with template discovery motions for items related to the computer data you may not already have that are suggested to properly prepare a defense using a forensic expert.

We speak "English" with you and the Court, not paragraphs of technical computer jargon you and others may not understand!

In our experience we find that law enforcement rarely does a complete forensic evaluation of a defendant's data; rather they search until they find a miminal amount of contraband necessary to indict. That material is typically sent to the FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for the purpose of matching a "real" person with the media found.
The results above are then sent to the prosecutor and that's typically where law enforcement forensic experts stop working.

The defendant has little chance of a good defense without involving a forensic expert who has trial experience.

To discuss your case in more detail please call the phone number on the top of this page or Email.

COMMON QUESTIONS
Do you perform work out of the St. Louis area?
Yes, FCS works on these cases anywhere in the continental United States.

How long does the investigation take?
Based on real cases it typically takes two to four days of work looking at the computer media itself. During this time we are making notes and copying data to be taken back to our lab for further analysis.
The analysis at our lab typically takes one to two weeks.

The Government won't let us have access to the evidence; what can we do?
To date no judge has denied us access to the evidence; it becomes a question of how we get access. In Federal Court (due to the Adam Walsh Act) we have to perform the on-site analysis at a government facility and finish up in our lab.
In our experience this has been done at the AUSA's office or a police department.
In State Court the prosecutors usually try to enforce the same rules, however, in Missouri we materially participated in a Missouri Appellate Court hearing which ordered the State to allow us to examine the evidence in our own lab. The full opinion may be read by clicking here (THIS WILL OPEN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW).

How much does it cost?
A minimum retainer of $3,000 is required. Once we have the opportunity to discuss the case with you we will provide a cost estimate covering all pre-trial work we believe is necessary to bring you and the client to a point of making a decision on how to proceed.

Do you provide services for public defender cases?
Yes. After we discuss the case we will suggest an amount to be pre-approved.