PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING THE EXAMINATION OF COMPUTER MEDIA CONTAINING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

LAWRENCE J. O'NEILL, District Judge.

ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An agent with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, Fresno County Sheriff's Office or another law enforcement officer shall make a duplicate copy of the hard drive(s) and any other storage media found to contain contraband for defense analysis.

2. The duplicate copies of the hard drive(s) and storage media shall be made available for defense counsel, Janet Bateman, Esq., and defendant's proposed expert, Marcus Lawson, or a colleague at the same employer, Global Compusearch, LLC, to review at a law enforcement office for the purpose of preparing for trial in the above-entitled action. The contraband images on the hard drive(s), cellular phone(s) and storage media shall not be viewed by any other person unless defense counsel is present and the viewing is necessary to prepare for defendant's defense.

3. A room on the premises of the law enforcement office where the examination takes place will be provided for the defense examination. No government agent shall access or review the defense copy of the hard drive while it is within the custody of the law enforcement office.

4. The expert will be permitted to bring whatever equipment, books or records he believes necessary to conduct the examination.

5. Neither the defense expert nor defense attorney shall remove the hard drive(s), cellular phone(s) or other storage media from the law enforcement office where it will be made available for examination.

6. With the exception of materials which would be considered child pornography under federal law (including visual images and data capable of conversion into a visual image), the expert may download and remove files or portions of files, provided the forensic integrity of the hard drive is not altered. The expert will certify in writing (using the attached certification) that he or she has taken no materials which would be considered child pornography or capable of being converted into child pornography (under federal law) from the law enforcement office, and that he or she has not caused any child pornography to be sent off site. The certification will also confirm that the defense has not cause any child pornography to be sent from the law enforcement premises by any means, including by any electronic transfer of files.

7. Except when a defense expert fails to provide this certification, no government official, or any person connected with the government, will examine or acquire in any fashion any of the items used by the expert in order to conduct the defense analyses. Should a defense expert fail to certify that he or she has not copied or removed child pornography, or data capable of being converted into child pornography, then government officials may then inspect or examine the materials, including the drive(s) and/or other storage media provided for defense review, in order to ensure that prohibited child pornography has not been removed.

8. When the defense indicates that it is finished with its review of the copy of the hard drives, said drives shall be "forensically wiped" and promptly returned to defendant's proposed expert who originally provided the drives for the purpose of this examination, unless the defense requests that they be preserved for future review or use.

9. Any disputes regarding the above or problems implementing this order shall be brought to the attention of the court through representative counsel after first consulting opposing counsel.

IT IS SO ORDERED.