The High Court has ruled the police raid on internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom's Auckland mansion was illegal and the removal from New Zealand of cloned copies of hard drives seized was unlawful.
Justice Helen Winkelmann found the warrants used did not adequately describe the offences to which they were related.
"Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid.''
Police said they were considering the judgement and are in discussions with Crown Law to determine what further action might be required.
They would not make any comment until that process was complete.
Justice Winkelmann's judgement released a short time ago found the warrants were far too wide in terms of the scope of the search and the amount of items they gave police authority to seize.
"These categories of items were defined in such a way that they would inevitably capture within them both relevant and irrelevant material. The police acted on this authorisation. The warrants could not authorise seizure of irrelevant material, and are therefore invalid.''
The cloning of Dotcom's hard drives by the FBI, who took the copied disks back to the US was also ruled as invalid because Dotcom had never given consent.
The court ordered an independent lawyer to review everything seized in the raid to determine what is relevant to the investigation and what is not.
Relevant material is to be released to US authorities and everything else is be returned to Dotcom "forthwith''.
The decision followed a hearing at the High Court in Auckland last month.
Kim Dotcom cried in court as his lawyer spoke of how he was ``ripped from his family'' during a dawn raid by police at the request of US authorities.
Dotcom, who was arrested alongside three associates, had argued for copies of the data on 135 computers and hard drives seized when police raided his $30 million home in Coatesville.
His lawyer Paul Davison QC said his client's rights had been "subverted'' after cloned copies of the hard drives were taken overseas by the FBI without his lawyers knowing.
Mr Davison told the court he wrote to Crown lawyers in February to ask that none of the data from Dotcom's computers leave New Zealand.
Mr Davison said Crown lawyers responded, saying: "The evidence is required in its original form to be sent to the US. That has not happened and will not happen without prior warning.''
He said he was told the FBI had been in New Zealand and made clones of the data on the computers and one copy would be made available to him.
Dotcom searches illegal: Judge - National - NZ Herald News
Good.
Justice Helen Winkelmann found the warrants used did not adequately describe the offences to which they were related.
"Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid.''
Police said they were considering the judgement and are in discussions with Crown Law to determine what further action might be required.
They would not make any comment until that process was complete.
Justice Winkelmann's judgement released a short time ago found the warrants were far too wide in terms of the scope of the search and the amount of items they gave police authority to seize.
"These categories of items were defined in such a way that they would inevitably capture within them both relevant and irrelevant material. The police acted on this authorisation. The warrants could not authorise seizure of irrelevant material, and are therefore invalid.''
The cloning of Dotcom's hard drives by the FBI, who took the copied disks back to the US was also ruled as invalid because Dotcom had never given consent.
The court ordered an independent lawyer to review everything seized in the raid to determine what is relevant to the investigation and what is not.
Relevant material is to be released to US authorities and everything else is be returned to Dotcom "forthwith''.
The decision followed a hearing at the High Court in Auckland last month.
Kim Dotcom cried in court as his lawyer spoke of how he was ``ripped from his family'' during a dawn raid by police at the request of US authorities.
Dotcom, who was arrested alongside three associates, had argued for copies of the data on 135 computers and hard drives seized when police raided his $30 million home in Coatesville.
His lawyer Paul Davison QC said his client's rights had been "subverted'' after cloned copies of the hard drives were taken overseas by the FBI without his lawyers knowing.
Mr Davison told the court he wrote to Crown lawyers in February to ask that none of the data from Dotcom's computers leave New Zealand.
Mr Davison said Crown lawyers responded, saying: "The evidence is required in its original form to be sent to the US. That has not happened and will not happen without prior warning.''
He said he was told the FBI had been in New Zealand and made clones of the data on the computers and one copy would be made available to him.
Dotcom searches illegal: Judge - National - NZ Herald News
Good.
