Q: Can images and videos taken without authorization from my iPad be used as evidence in court?
My ex husband went through the photos in my iPad that I had sent with my daughter for summer visitation and is now using what he found to allege domestic violence in my household. He filed a temporary restraining order and a request for custody modification.
A:
If there is a criminal case relating to the alleged domestic abuse, there is a possibility of suppression under Article 38.23 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure based on Breach of Computer Security but that is a tight needle to thread based on the opinion in the Ruiz PDR last year from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals the text of which is available here: https://cases.justia.com/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/2019-pd-1348-17.pdf
If you are only asking about the custody modification case, that is a civil matter so the criminal rules I mentioned above don't apply. Civil law is outside my practicer area so I can't offer any suggestions except that you should consult a Family Law attorney and maybe research Rule of Evidence #402 in the context of civil law.
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