(As originally published with bells and whistles, Thu, March 31st 2022, 12:04 PM EDT)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The couple in Jupiter charged with aggravated child abuse for keeping their teenage son in a box in their garage are claiming one or more of their children hacked their email and that could affect their trial.
Timothy Ferriter’s lawyer, Nellie King, filed a Motion for Protective Order which contends the couple’s personal Google account or accounts “were ‘hacked’ into by one or more of their minor children.”
The motion says Ferriter and his lawyer have good faith reason to believe the material that was obtained illegally was given to a lawyer with the Foster Children’s Project/Legal Aid.
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Timothy and Tracy Ferriter are charged with aggravated child abuse. They have different defense lawyers. The motion was made in Timothy Ferriter’s name but includes Tracy Ferriter as a co-owner of the Google account(s).
The Ferriters and the ‘boy in the box’ case:
- 2022-03-07 Exclusive: Box where boy was allegedly locked up has been torn down, removed
- 2022-03-01 Contractor saw red flags in building box for couple charged with child abuse
- 2022-02-10 Lawyer: Boy in box ‘fantasizes about killing people’
- 2022-02-09 Inside a 14-year-old’s 8×8 garage ‘room’ and the punishments he endured
Their four children are in foster care. They have a 3-year-old boy, 13- and 16-year-old girls and the 14-year-old boy. Some were adopted.
The Ferriters claim their children were never given the login credentials and the alleged conduct
“exposes the number of legal concerns which necessitates immediate inquiry and rulings by the court. The due process rights of the defendant have been abridged by the conduct at issue here.”
The motion says, “The documents illegally obtained by the child(ren) must be supplied to the defense, … the subject material must be prohibited from use in any proceeding,” and the lawyer for Foster Children’s Project/Legal Aid should be removed as Attorney ad Litem.
The lawyer, King, wrote, “Florida law is abundantly clear that an attorney who receives improperly obtained documents must disclose the receipt and potentially withdraw from further representation.”
She cited the Florida Constitution, which provides that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against … the unreasonable interception of private communications by any means shall not be violated.”
Plus, she noted the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
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