Maryland Criminal Attorney Blog
In October 2023, attorneys Eric Bacaj and Andrew C. White won a partial acquittal for their client, a decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan, who was facing serious child pornography charges in Anne Arundel County. The State accused the client of possessing and distributing child pornography but it had no evidence of the illegal images on any of the client’s electronic devices. Instead, the State attempted to tie the client to images that were stored remotely on a server maintained by Kik, a messaging app.
Partial Acquittal at Trial for Child Pornography Charges
The State introduced the images from Kik into evidence through a detective who did not have expertise in computer science or internet protocol (IP) geolocation. Nonetheless, the detective relied on his “training, knowledge, and experience” to tie the remotely stored images to our client through IP records from Verizon.
Mr. Bacaj and Mr. White earned acquittals on four counts by exploiting the inconsistencies in the records provided by Kik. However, the State secured convictions on other counts by relying on the electronic evidence introduced over repeated defense objections that records could not be admitted without a properly qualified expert to explain their technical significance.
Silverman Thompson Appeals the Convictions Due to Lack of Expert Witness
On appeal to the Appellate Court of Maryland, Silverman Thompson focused on the Verizon and Kik records, arguing that the trial court committed reversible error by admitting them without a proper expert witness.
In briefing, Mr. Bacaj and Mr. White, assisted by Silverman Thompson’s appellate expert Todd Hesel, focused the unanimous agreement of courts across the country that an expert is required to tie an IP address to a real-world location. While case law does not require an expert witness to testify to information learned from everyday devices like a thermometer, scale, clock, or GPS, Silverman Thompson’s team stressed that the data from these devices can be roughly corroborated by personal observations. In contrast, IP addresses offer no opportunity for personal observation by the average person because they operate entirely behind the scenes.
Eric Bacaj argued the case before the Appellate Court of Maryland on February 11, 2025, accessible here. The Appellate Court of Maryland has not yet issued its opinion, but we will update this post once the Court renders its decision.
Contact Experienced Internet Crimes Attorneys
Andrew White and Eric Bacaj previously served as Assistant United States Attorneys and have significant experience in challenging the use of electronic evidence by the prosecution in a wide breadth of cases. Todd Hesel previously served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland and brings a wealth of experience to Silverman Thompson’s appellate practice.
To learn more about the criminal defense team at Silverman Thompson, call us toll-free at 800-385-2243 for a free consultation or contact:
Andrew White at awhite@silvermanthompson.com
Eric Bacaj at ebacaj@silvermanthompson.com
Todd Hesel at thesel@silvermanthompson.com