Committee adopts substitute to limit disclosure of victims’ sensitive phone data in criminal cases

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee adopted a second substitute to House Bill 171 on victim and witness privacy, directing procedures for handling sensitive digital data obtained from victims and witnesses in criminal investigations.

The bill’s presenters, including Carl Holland of the attorney general’s office, told the committee that widespread forensic “Cellebrite” downloads of phones produce large amounts of private information — from naked photos to running routes — much of which may not be relevant to a given prosecution. Holland said the substitute seeks a “scalpel-like approach” to partition discovery: automatically produce information that is clearly germane, and create a controlled-review process for sensitive materials that are not obviously relevant but may be subject to defense challenges.

The committee…