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‘Forensic expert’ helped LAPD hack iPhone of ‘Shield’ actor’s murdered wife

Los Angeles police detectives bypassed an iPhone security feature that prevents access to content on disabled phones, according to a report published in The Los Angeles Times, citing court papers reviewed by the news daily.

In May 2014, April Jace, wife of actor Michael Jace, was killed in their Los Angeles home. Her iPhone 5s is believed to be central to the murder investigation. Jace, who is best known for his appearance as Los Angeles Police Officer Julien Lowe on the TV show “The Shield,” was arrested a few days after his wife's murder. He is on trial accused of her murder.

Earlier attempts to access the information contained on the device proved unsuccessful, but in March, LAPD investigators used a “forensic cellphone expert” to “override the locked iPhone function,” a detective wrote, according to the report in the Times.

The court documents did not state the name of the “forensic cellphone expert” used by investigators to access the information and did not disclose how the data was accessed. The incident occurred at the same time as the court showdown over the FBI's request that Apple unlock the iPhone 5c that had been used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

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