PROTOCOL should be followed in safeguarding digital and electronic evidence like the USB flash drive confiscated from the house of Bella Ruby Santos or its contents may not be viewed.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) yesterday submitted in court a pleading quoting the Digital and Electronic Forensics Laboratory Manual that states “only personnel specifically trained to perform computer seizures and subsequent analysis must be authorized to engage in seizure and analysis of digital and electronic evidence.”
“The most important aspect of this protocol is using the forensic expert’s laptop and not just any other laptop or computer. The primordial concern of the applicant (CIDG-7) is to preserve in its original state and safeguard the original contents of the USB for future use,” said CIDG-7 lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna.
Dela Cerna insisted that they be allowed by the court to insert the USB on the CIDG-7’s laptop.
Santos’ lawyers, however, opposed Dela Cerna’s request saying the CIDG-7 may have created a system that would implicate Santos.
Regional Trial Court Judge Meinrado Paredes, who is conducting the evidentiary hearings, decided to use a laptop that doesn’t belong to any party in the case.
In the CIDG-7s pleading, Dela Cerna said Paredes had sustained the validity of the search warrant against Santos and that viewing the contents of the USB is no longer necessary.
“With all due respect, the attempt of the honorable court to discern the incriminating nature of the contents allegedly inside the USB is beyond the scope of its authority for it in fact be encroaching on the authority of the prosecution,” Dela Cerna said.
The judge earlier told the parties that he intends to return the USB if it does not contain any evidence against Santos.
Dela Cerna asked the court not to return the USB, which the CIDG-7 would use in the case filed against Santos and British partner Ian Charles Grifiths pending before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.
Santos and Griffiths are pointed to by witnesses as the culprits in the kidnap-slay of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique.