The state's extraction is a starting point, not the whole story. The Waldrep Company gives defense attorneys an independent forensic examination of the digital evidence: what it shows, what it does not, and what the prosecution's report left out. 19 years in digital forensics. casework in federal and state courts.
By the time a criminal case reaches you, the digital evidence has usually been through one set of hands: the state's. An examiner working for the prosecution ran the extraction, chose what to look at, and wrote a report that supports the charges. That report is one reading of the data. It is rarely the only one.
A defense digital forensics expert asks different questions. What did the tool actually capture? What was left out? Do the timestamps mean what the state says they mean? Was your client using the device, or was the activity automated, or someone else entirely?
The Waldrep Company works those questions for defense counsel nationwide: independent review of prosecution productions, independent examination of devices with proper authority, and testimony that explains the findings in plain language. Intake is remote, devices ship to the lab, and Eric Waldrep travels for testimony.
Common findings, stated generally: timestamps read without time zone context, tool artifacts presented as user activity, recoverable data that was never examined, and shared devices treated as if one person held them. None of that is exotic. It takes an examiner with time, the full data, and a reason to look.
Every engagement is scoped with counsel. Some matters need a quiet consulting review. Others need a full independent examination, a rebuttal report, and a witness on the stand.
The state produces a Cellebrite Reader file, a UFED extraction, or a GrayKey output, plus a report built from a fraction of it. We review the full production and flag what it skipped. See Cellebrite report review.
With proper legal authority in place, we acquire and examine phones, computers, and storage media ourselves rather than relying on the state's copy. See mobile device forensics for how acquisition works.
We examine how the state's expert worked: the tools, the process, the scope of the extraction against the authority for it, and the distance between the data and the conclusions. See opposing expert report review.
Timestamps, location artifacts, app records, and account activity, assembled into a sequence counsel can test. Includes the question many reports skip: who was actually using the device at the moment that matters.
Much of this material arrives under a protective order. We work within those terms: controlled review settings when required, restricted copies, secure storage, and return or destruction of material as the order directs.
Findings go into a clear written report, and Eric Waldrep testifies to them at hearings and trial. The expert witness page covers how testimony engagements work.
Every engagement runs through counsel and stays there. We do not discuss matters, clients, or findings with anyone outside the engagement. Evidence is stored securely, access is limited, and material is returned or destroyed as counsel directs.
Whether we serve as a consulting expert or a testifying expert changes what may be discoverable, and that decision belongs to counsel. We raise it at the start of every engagement, before anything is written down, so the work product takes the shape the defense actually wants.
In court-appointed and indigent-defense matters, funding for a defense expert works differently in every jurisdiction. Some courts approve expert funds on motion. Public defender and appointed-counsel systems have their own procedures and caps. We cannot promise funding will be approved, but we can scope the work to fit what is, and we discuss it candidly in the free initial consultation.
We say early what the evidence can and cannot support, so no one builds a defense on a reading the data will not carry. If a review is unlikely to help, we say so before the budget is spent.
Every matter is discussed in confidence before any engagement begins.
A written fee agreement is provided before any work begins, and the initial consultation is free. The complete schedule, including testimony and retainer options, is on the rates page.
Billed hourly by scope. Testimony rates and retainer tiers are listed on the rates page.
Flat rate per device, performed only with proper legal authority arranged by counsel.
Fixed fee, defined deliverable. Full description on the opposing expert report review page.
What a defense review covers, how fast it can move, and what it costs.
Tell us what the state has produced and what the charges turn on. We will tell you what a defense review can realistically add, what it costs, and how fast it can move. The consultation is free and confidential.
Free initial consultation · Written fee agreement before any work begins · Serving defense counsel nationwide
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