Child sex abuse case may head to jury trial as attorneys debate access to defendant's devices
JACKSON (WNE) — A criminal case against a Jackson man accused of possessing child sexual abuse material has been moved to August.
Court filings suggest the case is headed to a jury trial as prosecutors and defense attorneys tangle over access to the defendant’s password-protected devices.
Mark Tarrant, 73, was arrested in December on two counts of sexual exploitation of a child for allegedly possessing illicit material between June 11 and Dec. 11, 2024. He posted a $50,000 cash bond following his arrest.
Tarrant, the founder and former owner of Altamira Fine Art in Jackson, was arrested at his Jackson home without incident on Dec. 11, 2024, after investigators developed probable cause that he was in possession of child pornography, according to police affidavits.
Officers seized multiple electronic devices during the arrest.
In recent filings, Tarrant’s defense team moved to block the prosecution from referencing and accessing password-protected devices.
In a series of court filings starting May 29, Tarrant’s defense attorney, Bret King, argued that allowing Teton County prosecutors to suggest that Tarrant’s use of encryption — or his refusal to provide passwords — implies guilt would be a violation of his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
“The prosecution’s position effectively punishes the defendant for remaining silent,” King wrote. “Indeed, it is likely that nearly all computer owners use passwords to protect their computers, discs, phones and electronic devices.”
But Mackenzie Cole, a deputy Teton County attorney, argued that the defense has not provided law enforcement with sufficient information to conduct a full investigation of the devices seized. She argued that the level of password protection on Tarrant’s devices is evidence of “the lengths the Defendant has gone to in order to password protect and encrypt files to hide files,” Cole wrote in a June 18 filing.
Teton County’s 9th District Judge Melissa Owens has not yet ruled on the motions.
This story was published on July 9, 2025.