Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

I have this friend whose close friend got into some trouble with the law & they used my friend as a witness in that case. In doing so they needed to retrieve his cellphone & in order to look at his text messages & pictures, which he signed for in agreement to help with the case. A few months later the case is over with & his friend received his punishment. My friend (the witness) gets called into the supervisor's office & he is informed that he is receiving a punishment for something illegal caught on video 2 years prior (he shot a gun off during New Year's). He apologized the main supervisor & admitted that it was immature on his part.

I was just wondering if they have a right to do that since the paper he signed for didn't specify videos (even though it might have been in the same area as the pictures) & the fact that it has nothing to do with the reason they needed to go in his phone in the first place. And his friend was punished for a completely different crime. Or different rules apply since they're both active duty military.


Asked on 10/18/13, 9:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Craig Epifanio Craig Epifanio, P.A.

There are a lot of different aspects to your question that may not be able to be answered on this forum. First, if you are dealing with a military situation then you really need to talk to a military law attorney as it is very specialized. Regarding whether they can view it, military issue aside, if he gave consent and didn't give restrictions, then he gave consent. Your friend could have said you can view these pictures but I do not give permission to view these others. To be safe your friend needs to talk to a military attorney.

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Answered on 10/20/13, 12:10 pm


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