Ill. AG Seeks More Time to Answer Defendant Who Won’t Disclose His Cellphone Passcode

The office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) is seeking a one-month extension, until Jan. 22, to file its responding brief to criminal defendant Keiron Sneed's U.S. Supreme Court cert petition (docket 23-5827) seeking review of the Illinois Supreme Court's reversal of a lower court's denial of the state's motion to compel Sneed to produce his cellphone passcode (see 2311200026). Sneed’s supporters argue that the order would unlawfully require him to aid in his own prosecution. The two counts of forgery Sneed was charged with stemmed from a pair of false paychecks payable to Sneed, which he endorsed then deposited via mobile deposit in his bank account. The police obtained a search warrant for Sneed’s cellphone but were unable to execute the warrant because the cellphone was passcode-protected and the defendant refused to provide the passcode. That’s when the state filed a motion to compel production of the passcode. Assistant Illinois AG Joshua Schneider “has familiarized himself with the case and researched some of the issues,” said the AG office’s letter to SCOTUS Tuesday. But Schneider requires additional time “to complete his research, draft the response, and have the response reviewed by several members of the office,” said the letter.