3rd Circuit orders release of ex-cop who wouldn't unlock hard drives, cites cap on civil contempt detention
A federal appeals court has ordered the released of a former Philadelphia police officer who spent more than four years in prison because he didn’t comply with a court order to provide hard drive passwords.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia found that federal law limits detention of witnesses in civil contempt proceedings and ordered the release of the former officer, Francis Rawls, report the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Associated Press. How Appealing links to the 2-1 decision. issued Feb. 6.
“If the government seeks to impose any additional deprivation of liberty for Rawls’ status as a suspect in the alleged child pornography offenses, the agovernment must charge Rawls with those offenses, provide Rawls with a trial by a jury of his peers, prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt, and sentence Rawls in accordance with due process,” the appeals court said.
Federal law places an 18-month cap on the civil contempt detention of witnesses who disobey court orders to testify or provide information, the 3rd Circuit said. Because Rawls is a witness in the civil contempt proceedings against him, he should be released, the court majority concluded.
