Key Appellate Court Ruling Validates Guidance Software's EnCase Computer Forensic Software

Guidance Software Inc., the world leader in computer investigation solutions, announced that a Texas Appellate Court re-affirmed the reliability and use of the EnCase computer forensic software. The court, in its recent published decision, noted that "EnCase is a 'field standard' for forensic computer examination." As a result, the court upheld the defendant's conviction for aggravated sexual assault on a child and a life sentence was secured through the prosecution's use of EnCase software.

This decision is important for both prosecutors and corporate counsel who litigate cases involving electronic evidence, including cybercrime and eDiscovery matters. EnCase software is utilized by over 20,000 government and corporate computer investigation specialists to collect, authenticate, process, and analyze electronic evidence stored on computers. In addition to its court-recognized status as the leading computer forensics software for law enforcement investigations, EnCase is the leading software for the collection and preservation of computer evidence for purposes of eDiscovery. (See, Socha-Gelbman, 2005 eDiscovery Industry Survey).

In its decision published March 8, 2006, Sanders v. State, 2006 WL 561853, the Court of Appeals of Texas affirmed the trial court's determination that the EnCase software used by law enforcement investigators properly preserved, authenticated and retrieved digital evidence from the appellant's computer. The decision noted that computer forensics investigators utilize "EnCase to automate the task of searching and finding the files" on a computer after an "image of the drive is taken; the files are copied, and EnCase validates the copy by an 'MD5 hash,' a 128-bit algorithm that verifies the image."

"Repeatedly upheld in U.S. and international courts over the past five years, EnCase is the benchmark computer forensic software for all types of computer investigations, from white collar crime to terrorism and eDiscovery," said John Colbert, CEO of Guidance Software.

"The Court of Appeals of Texas decision is yet another important published decision emphasizing the reliability of the EnCase software, and we continue to see exponential growth in the number of successful criminal, compliance and eDiscovery investigations involving EnCase."

The Sanders court followed an earlier Court of Appeals of Texas decision (Williford v. State, 127 S.W.3d 309) from 2004 that also validated EnCase software in a similar ruling and fact pattern. Importantly, the Sanders court took judicial notice -- which is a court's acceptance of an established or incontrovertible fact -- of prior court decisions that validated EnCase, noting that "once some courts have, through a Daubert/Kelly 'gatekeeping' hearing, determined the scientific reliability and validity of a specific methodology ... other courts may take judicial notice of the reliability (or unreliability) of that particular methodology."