Title: New Jersey v. Andrews

State: new-jersey

Issuer: New Jersey Supreme Court

Document:

This syllabus is not part of the Court’s opinion. It has been prepared by the Office of the
Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the
Court. In the interest of brevity, portions of an opinion may not have been summarized.

                     State v. Robert Andrews (A-72-18) (082209)

Argued January 21, 2020 -- Decided August 10, 2020

SOLOMON, J., writing for the Court.

       The Court considers whether a court order requiring a criminal defendant to
disclose the passcodes to his passcode-protected cellphones violates the Self-
Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution or New
Jersey’s common law or statutory protections against self-incrimination.

       The target of a State narcotics investigation, Quincy Lowery, advised detectives
that defendant Robert Andrews, a former Essex County Sheriff’s Officer, had provided
him with information about the investigation and advice to avoid criminal exposure. The
State obtained an arrest warrant for defendant, who was later released, and search
warrants for defendant’s iPhones, which were seized.

        Later that day, detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office interviewed
Lowery, who detailed his relationship with Andrews. Lowery explained that they were
members of the same motorcycle club and had known each other for about a year.
During that time, Andrews registered a car and motorcycle in his name so that Lowery
could use them. Lowery also told the detectives that he regularly communicated with
Andrews using the FaceTime application on their cellphones. Lowery claimed that
during one of those communications, Andrews told him to “get rid of” his cellphones
because law enforcement officials were “doing wire taps” following the federal arrests of
Crips gang members. Lowery relayed his suspicion that he was being followed by police
officers to Andrews and texted him the license plate number of one of the vehicles
Lowery believed was following him. According to Lowery, Andrews informed him that
the license plate number belonged either to the Prosecutor’s Office or the Sheriff’s
Department and advised him to put his car “on a lift to see if there is a [tracking] device
under there.” Lowery claimed that he also showed Andrews a picture of a man Lowery
suspected was following him and that Andrews identified the individual as a member of
the Prosecutor’s Office. Lowery’s cellphone records largely corroborated his allegations.
Following their second interview with Lowery, the State obtained Communication Data
Warrants for cellphone numbers belonging to Andrews and Lowery. The warrants
revealed 114 cellphone calls and text messages between Lowery and Andrews over a six-
week period. Andrews was indicted for official misconduct, hindering, and obstruction.
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       According to the State, its Telephone Intelligence Unit was unable to search
Andrews’s iPhones. A State detective contacted and conferred with the New York Police
Department’s Technical Services unit, as well as a technology company, both of which
concluded that the cellphones’ technology made them inaccessible to law enforcement
agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Regional Computer Forensics
Laboratory advised that it likewise would be unable to access the phones’ contents. The
State therefore moved to compel Andrews to disclose the passcodes to his two iPhones.

       Andrews opposed the motion, claiming that compelled disclosure of his passcodes
violates the protections against self-incrimination afforded by New Jersey’s common law
and statutes and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

       The trial court rejected Andrews’s arguments but limited access to Andrews’s
cellphones “to that which is contained within (1) the 'Phone’ icon and application on
Andrews’s two iPhones, and (2) the 'Messages’ icon and/or text messaging applications
used by Andrews during his communications with Lowery.” The court also ordered that
the search “be performed by the State, in camera, in the presence of Andrews’s defense
counsel and the [c]ourt,” with the court “review[ing] the PIN or passcode prior to its
disclosure to the State.” The Appellate Division affirmed.  457 N.J. Super. 14, 18 (App.
Div. 2018). The Court granted leave to appeal.  237 N.J. 572 (2019).

HELD: Neither federal nor state protections against compelled disclosure shield
Andrews’s passcodes.

1. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, paragraph 7 of
the New Jersey Constitution require that search warrants be “supported by oath or
affirmation” and describe with particularity the places subject to search and people or
things subject to seizure. Andrews does not challenge the search warrants issued for his
cellphones or the particularity with which the search warrants describe the “things subject
to seizure.” Thus, the State is permitted to access the phones’ contents, as limited by the
trial court’s order, in the same way that the State may survey a home, vehicle, or other
place that is the subject of a search warrant. Andrews objects here to the means by which
the State seeks to effectuate the searches authorized by the lawfully issued search
warrants -- compelled disclosure of his cellphones’ passcodes -- which Andrews claims
violate federal and state protections against compelled self-incrimination. (pp. 15-17)

2. The Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination applies only when the accused
is compelled to make a testimonial communication that is incriminating. Actions that do
not require an individual to disclose any knowledge he might have or to speak his guilt
are nontestimonial and therefore not protected. In contrast to physical communications,
if an individual is compelled to disclose the contents of his own mind, such disclosure
implicates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. (pp. 17-20)

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3. The Court reviews the origin and development of the foregone conclusion exception
to the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in Fisher v. United States,