STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING DEFENSE FORENSIC COMPUTER EXAMINATION

CAROLYN K. DELANEY, Magistrate Judge.

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties hereto through their respective counsel, Kyle Reardon, Assistant United States Attorney, attorney for Plaintiff, and Matthew Scoble, Assistant Federal Defender, attorney for Mr. Mitchell, that the Court should approve the proposed protective order governing the defense expert's forensic examination of the computer data in this case.

In order to advise the defendant adequately, the defense of this case requires a further forensic evaluation, by a knowledgeable expert, of the computer hard drives which the government alleges contain images of child pornography. The parties have agreed that the attached proposed order should govern the defense examination of the computer media and request that the Court approve the attached proposed order.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

PROTECTIVE ORDER CONCERNING DIGITAL MEDIA CONTAINING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AS FOLLOWS:

Enforcement agents shall make a duplicate copy of the hard drive and any other storage media available for defense analysis.

2. The duplicate copies of the hard drive and storage media shall be made available for defense counsel, Matthew Scoble, defense paralegal Julie Denny, and defendant's proposed expert, Tami Loehrs, or a colleague at the same employer, Loehrs & Associates, to review at the Sacramento High Tech Task Force offices in Sacramento, California or the United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Sacramento, California for the purpose of preparing for the defense of the above-entitled action. The images on the hard drive and storage media shall not be viewed by any other person unless one of the aforementioned members of the defense team is present and the viewing is necessary to prepare for defendant's defense.

3. A private room will be provided for the defense examination. No Government agents will be inside the room during the examination.

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

5. Neither the defense expert nor defense attorneys nor the defense paralegal shall remove the hard drive or other storage media from the confines of the law enforcement office.

6. With the exception of materials which would be considered child pornography under federal law (including visual depictions and data capable of conversion into a visual depiction), 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 has taken no materials which would be considered child pornography, or data capable of being converted into child pornography, (under federal law) and that he has not caused 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 agent, 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 analysis. Should a defense expert fail to certify that the expert has not copied or removed child pornography, or data capable of being converted into child pornography, Government agents may then inspect or examine the materials 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, the drive(s) or other storage devices shall be "wiped" clean.

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: