DALLAS County is paying $600,000 to two security testers who were arrested in 2019 while testing courthouse security for Iowa’s Judicial Branch, their lawyer says, after they sued following the incident. Gary DeMercurio and Justin Wynn were arrested on 11 September 2019 after breaking into the Dallas County Courthouse; they spent about 20 hours in jail and were charged with burglary and possession of burglary tools, though those charges were later dropped.
The men, employees of Colorado-based cybersecurity firm Coalfire Labs contracted by state judicial officials to analyse the court system’s security, faced a period of legal jeopardy despite conducting work they had been hired to do, which judicial officials apologised for and faced legislative scrutiny over. DeMercurio and Wynn filed their lawsuit in 2021, and the parties settled on 23 January, just three days before the civil suit trial was to begin, according to the Des Moines Register. Read more on Des Moines Register; Dan Goodin at Ars Technica also covers the case and settlement. According to Des Moines Register.