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Alert

Evidence needed for legal battle- missing data from ichat

Aug 26, 2015 6:15PM PDT

Hi,

I am in the middle of a custody battle with my ex-partner who was and is extremely pathological and abusive and now a 2x sex offender. There is a police investigation going on but without a confession, the case is weak. I have an iPhone that syncs with my messages on ichat on my Mac desktop. He came into my house and deleted them. Apple support and Sprint were not able to help. However, by reading forums, I ended up finding fragments of the conversations and the evidence I needed, by going through the systems library, and archives and by simply typing his name and ichat transcript, and it all came back- EXCEPT for the month of May and those are the ones I need the most. What I have unfortunately, is not enough and the proof lies in May. I have other ichat transcripts from other people in May, so I don't know how he did it and why his are missing, and if it is even possible to recover.

My Time Machine was never set up, my iphone backups do not have the month of May- I do not trust the recovery software programs, they are pricey and I don't want to pay x amount of dollars if they won't help. Sprint said you could subpoena however, when my attorney tried, they were unable to- I can only get the dates and times- not the content. Someone at Sprint told me they were 99.9% sure you can subpoena, but only the judge can, but our hearing is not set for weeks to come and if I can find this now, I will have what I need to file an emergency motion.

I tried restoring my iPhone, to one of the old back ups, which was unsuccessful. I have read so many forums. Spotlight, iCloud- unsuccessful- Apple Support tried. I need to recover the messages between he and I, which transpired in the month of May in order to acquire the proof/hard evidence I need for this case. If you think you can help and have any advice to offer on how I can recover the messages I need, my child and I would be in your debt. Thank you.

Discussion is locked

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This is no place for do it yourself.
Aug 26, 2015 6:23PM PDT

You meet with your lawyer and have them collect the evidence and if they feel the need, they will get forensics on such.

If it's gone and the subpoena fails, your lawyer is again the one to talk.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE SCAMMERS THAT POST RECOVERY SOFTWARE. You can find these on your own but so far these are outright failures and scams that prey on folk like you.

RECOVERED TEXTS are rarely acceptable in court. A good lawyer will get them thrown out. My advice is to stop and head back to your lawyer.

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Confused...
Aug 26, 2015 7:33PM PDT

Thank your for advice. The text messages have been admissible and because of all the material I have been able to recover, have made a difference. However, there is a vital one in May that I need. As I mentioned, my attorney cannot subpoena, and I am not even sure if the judge can, that is just what someone at the Sprint store told me. I am not familiar with CNet, but was told that this is a good resource for Mac technical support, which is what I am looking for. My attorney has everything he needs. We just need that text, and as you see, I have tried everything, and since this is a Mac Forum, I was hoping someone who is more computer savvy than me could help. All I am looking to achieve is justice, no names have been mentioned, but if you think this is something that could potentially hurt me versus help- please advise because I am just looking for technical support. However, in my case, it's more than that, as you've seen. Should I omit details perhaps? Is this not a forum for Mac Technical Support?

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That's good to read.
Aug 26, 2015 7:45PM PDT

It's a discussions forum where folk discuss issues, ideas and more. I have friends in legal and they have been able to remove texts as evidence so after that, I fear my view on this as evidence is quite low.

Then we have the recovery spammers that hit such questions and it's a pain to see folk buy those and get ripped off so my view on recovery software is also low.

I'm surprised your lawyer didn't just do the disposition about the texts and move forward. I worry about your representation since between this and you lawyer "cannot" subpoena the texts.

http://hack-igations.blogspot.com/2011/07/sms-text-messages-recovery-from.html and a link there shows how long these texts are retained. Remember I'm taking your word your lawyer cannot do this. Other lawyers have.

http://community.lawyers.com/forums/t/126063.aspx repeats this is not a DIY project. I seem to have upset you about that.

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Lawyers/Subpoena
Aug 26, 2015 8:06PM PDT

Yes, someone from Sprint gave us a number and said my lawyer could subpoena, so we called on 3 way- and we went through the whole process, "for subpoenas press 1 etc., " he did, then you hear an automated message that says something along the lines of that Sprint is not authorized to release content regarding text messaging etc., which made me wonder why I was given this number in the first place.. then I was at the Sprint store for a different reason but inquiring and asking them why my lawyer couldn't- I mean, what if someone was murdered and they confess via text- it makes no sense right? Well this person told me, any one can be a lawyer and there are different types of lawyers and that is confidential information, therefore he said it was the judge that had to do it... I will try to find that # for you so you could hear it yourself but thank you very much.

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Phone Number- Sprint: Subpoena Compliance
Aug 26, 2015 8:22PM PDT

This is the phone number for general inquiries, no one will pick up, it's all automated- but you will hear the same message I heard. 800-877-7330.

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I think you are asking forum members
Aug 27, 2015 7:48AM PDT

The old questions that have prior discussions. Not much has changed but if your lawyer stops with that phone call, then they are not showing much initiative. I hope they do well by you in spite of this. Your more driven lawyers find a way. I don't do that work for you.