Utah Supreme Court Rules Phone Passcode Denial Protected

A Utah man was well within his constitutional rights when he refused to give law enforcement the passcode to access his locked phone, the state supreme court ruled Thursday.

Police violated defendant Alfonso Valdez’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination by asking for his password and by noting his refusal to provide it during trial arguments, Justice Paige Petersen wrote in the court’s opinion.

Utah is the latest state to weigh in on whether Fifth Amendment protections apply to requests that legal defendants unlock their phones. Indiana and Pennsylvania have also ruled the information is protected, while the high ...