Has anyone encountered a cell phone that required a thumb print to access the contents of the phone? How did you gain access? Thank you for your help!

To the best of my knowledge this can only be bypassed by going through the Secret Service, who will send it to Apple, who will get to it somewhere around the 47th of Never. How does the 47th of Never work for you? You can ask, but I'd start with the SS, and not hold my breath.

You'll have a faster answer by going through all layers of the appellate court seeking a ruling that the thumbprint isn't testimonial and could be compelled by search warrant or other court order.

I know a lot of people are interested in this topic. I followed up with Julie earlier, but after visiting with people much smarter than me, the suggestion is that if the defendant won't consent to open the phone, you should get a warrant to search the phone, and a court order to compel the defendant to open the phone by touching the screen. Because taking fingerprints is not a search, you shouldn't need a warrant for that part.

I wonder if some day in the future we will laugh that this was ever an issue for us... you know... when we're trying to figure out how to subpoena the data stored on the Facebook neurological implant chip we will have all signed up for.