According to Cody Hiland, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' 20th Judicial District, the FBI's Little Rock field office agreed to provide assistance in accessing the data on two locked iPhones owned by two suspects in the murder of Robert and Patricia Cogdell, in Arkansas. The couple were killed in their home just outside Little Rock in July, 2015. Four suspects, ages 14 to 18, have been charged in the killings.
One of the suspects, 18-year-old Hunter Drexler, was to be tried for murder, but prosecutors asked for a delay less than 24 hours after the FBI said it had successfully gained access to the data on an iPhone belonging to the employer of a dead San Bernardino shooter.
According to reports, the device in question is a newer iPhone model than the one used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. It is unknown if the FBI will employ the same hacking method used on Farook's iPhone. Experts say that this is unlikely, since the FBI would have to disclose the method to the public, endangering iPhone users' data globally.
"In a criminal case, if the FBI uses a technique, there's going to be questions about divulging that technique or chain of custody to the defense," says Andrew Crocker, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group in San Francisco.
Earlier, the FBI took Apple to court, to force the company to provide access to the data on the encrypted device. However, the agency dropped the case after announcing that a third party had hacked the device.
