July 27, 2021

Guy Reffitt, accused of being involved in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, has been ordered by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to unlock his laptop “with his face.”

Prosecutors argue that the laptop most likely contained video footage that would incriminate him in the attempted insurrection.

While Reffitt’s lawyer told the court that his client could “not remember” his password, the government took advantage of a loophole in the Fifth Amendment by urging the court to force Reffitt to sit in front of the computer to unlock it, since the protection of the Fifth Amendment does not extend to a person’s physical attributes such as fingerprints or a facial scanner used in place of a password.

Reffitt pleaded not guilty to five counts, one of which involved bringing a firearm into the capitol grounds.

His Windows laptop was one of many devices seized by the FBI.

For more information, read the original story in TechCrunch.