SALEM, Ore. (CN) — Meta won’t have to turn over internal user messages in an Oregon homicide case, Oregon’s highest court ruled Friday, rejecting an appeal from a criminal defendant who argued that refusal to produce the records violated his state and federal constitutional rights.
The court declined to issue a writ of mandamus that would have directed a lower court to order Meta to produce records related to the social media accounts of two individuals involved in a 2024 shooting on the outskirts of Salem.
“The mandamus petition in this case raises important issues of state and federal statutory and constitutional law arising pretrial during an ongoing criminal prosecution on serious charges, including a charge of second-degree murder,” the court wrote in a per curiam opinion. “However, upon consideration, the court declines to issue a peremptory writ of mandamus on this record at this time.”…