A Baltimore County homicide detective has been pulled off duty and put on paid leave after prosecutors told a judge that officers opened a murder suspect’s iPhone several times before getting a warrant, and that one detective simply guessed the passcode. The revelation surfaced during pretrial motions this week and has defense lawyers pushing to toss phone evidence and block certain officers from taking the stand, while the county runs an internal review.
Prosecutors Say Detective Guessed iPhone Passcode
In court, prosecutors said Detective Storm Sheckells correctly guessed the passcode to Rashard Mack’s iPhone, went into the device multiple times before a judge approved a warrant, and later denied to a police forensic scientist that he had searched the phone. Defense attorneys say a digital-forensics report they supplied showed even more unlocks, including one session that lasted more than 13 minutes, which led prosecutors to revise their earlier account.
Joy Stewart, a spokesperson for the Baltimore County Police Department, confirmed that Sheckells was suspended with pay while an internal investigation moves forward, according to The Baltimore Banner.
“This is absolutely the most brazen form of police misconduct I think I’ve actually witnessed,” Assistant Public Defender Maureen Apugo told the court, arguing that the phone access undercuts the state’s case. Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said his office notified the defense about the searches “as soon as” it learned of them and accused the detective of misleading investigators.
Detective James Lambert testified that he did not view guessing a passcode as a search and said he did not know about subsequent entries into the phone, testimony that was also reported by The Baltimore Banner.
Murder Case Background
The phone dispute is playing out in a homicide case that began with a domestic stabbing on March 29, 2025, in Parkville. Twenty-two-year-old Taejhiana Walker was killed, and police later charged Rashard Mack with first-degree murder and carrying a dangerous weapon. He is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center, as reported by WBAL.
Detective’s Role and Prior Cases
Sheckells serves as a Baltimore County homicide detective and has been involved in high-profile county investigations. Court records from earlier litigation show he responded to the Gateway Tavern shooting probe in 2021, a detail noted in filings reviewed by legal reporters, according to Circuit Court documents.
Legal Questions Ahead
At the heart of the coming legal fight is whether guessing a passcode and briefly opening a phone counts as a search under the Fourth Amendment. In Cornell Law School’s posting of the Supreme Court’s decision in Riley v. California, the Court made clear that police generally need a warrant to dig through the contents of a smartphone, and lower courts have been sorting out how that standard applies to limited or partial access.
Judge Michael Finifter heard arguments this week and now has to decide how much, if any, of the phone evidence will make it in front of a jury. For the moment, the iPhone itself and what officers did with it sit squarely at the center of a Baltimore County murder case and a brewing constitutional fight.
