Digital Forensics Expert Witness in North Carolina
When your case depends on digital evidence, you need an expert witness who can collect it forensically, analyze it rigorously, and present it persuasively to judges and juries across North Carolina. Craig Petronella is a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner with 30+ years of experience who provides expert witness testimony in NC state courts, federal courts, and arbitration proceedings — translating complex technical findings into clear, authoritative narratives that help fact-finders reach informed decisions.
Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner • BBB Accredited Since 2003 • Founded 2002 • 2,500+ Clients
Digital Evidence Requires Qualified Expert Presentation
NC Rules of Evidence require expert qualification, reliable methodology, and clear communication to admit technical testimony.
NC Rule 702 Qualification
North Carolina Rule of Evidence 702 requires expert witnesses to demonstrate specialized knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education that qualifies them to testify on technical matters. A Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner credential, combined with decades of hands-on case experience, provides the qualification foundation that survives voir dire challenges.
Daubert/Howerton Standard
North Carolina applies the Daubert reliability standard (adopted via State v. McGrady, 2016) for expert testimony. The court evaluates whether the expert's methodology is testable, peer-reviewed, has known error rates, and is generally accepted. Our forensic procedures are built on industry-standard methodologies that consistently satisfy Daubert gatekeeping requirements.
Jury Communication
Technical expertise alone does not win cases. The expert must communicate complex digital concepts — file system metadata, encryption, network logs, data recovery — in language that non-technical judges and jurors can understand and find persuasive. Craig's decades of client communication and courtroom experience enable him to present findings clearly without oversimplifying the technical substance.
Cross-Examination Resilience
Opposing counsel will challenge your expert's credentials, methodology, and conclusions. An expert witness who has withstood cross-examination before knows how to maintain composure, defend methodology choices, and address challenges without undermining the integrity of the findings. Craig's courtroom experience across multiple North Carolina venues provides this battle-tested credibility.
Expert Witness Services for North Carolina's Courts
The North Carolina court system handles thousands of cases annually where digital evidence is central to the outcome. Civil cases involving employment disputes, trade secret theft, contract breaches, and intellectual property claims turn on email communications, document metadata, access logs, and data-transfer records. Criminal prosecutions depend on mobile phone extractions, social media analysis, internet browsing history, and computer forensic imaging. Family law matters increasingly involve digital communications, financial records recovered from devices, and social media evidence. In each of these contexts, the evidence is only as strong as the expert who collected it, analyzed it, and can explain it to a court.
Under North Carolina Rule of Evidence 702, an expert witness must be qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to provide testimony that will assist the trier of fact. Since the North Carolina Supreme Court adopted the Daubert reliability standard in State v. McGrady (2016), trial courts apply a gatekeeping function to ensure that expert testimony is based on sufficient facts, reliable principles and methods, and proper application of those methods to the specific case. Digital forensics expert testimony must therefore demonstrate validated collection procedures, accepted analysis techniques, reproducible results, and documented chain-of-custody protocols.
Craig Petronella meets these requirements through his Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner credential, MIT certification, 30+ years of cybersecurity and forensic investigation experience, and a case portfolio spanning data breaches, employee misconduct investigations, intellectual property disputes, financial fraud examinations, and criminal digital evidence analysis across North Carolina courts. He is retained by plaintiff and defense attorneys, corporate legal departments, the Wake County District Attorney, and insurance companies for matters heard in Wake County Superior Court, the Eastern and Middle Districts of North Carolina federal courts, and venues across the state from Charlotte to Wilmington.
Comprehensive Forensic Expert Witness Capabilities
From evidence collection through courtroom testimony, Craig provides end-to-end expert support for North Carolina litigation.
Expert Testimony in NC State and Federal Courts
Craig provides live testimony in North Carolina Superior Court, District Court, and federal court proceedings across the Eastern and Middle Districts. His testimony covers forensic methodology validation, evidence authentication under NC Rules of Evidence Rule 901, digital artifact interpretation, timeline reconstruction, data-recovery procedures, and the technical significance of findings in the context of the legal questions at issue. Craig prepares demonstrative exhibits — visual timelines, annotated screenshots, data-flow diagrams — that make complex forensic findings accessible to lay juries without sacrificing technical accuracy.
His testimony has supported cases involving corporate data theft, trade secret misappropriation, employee sabotage, business email compromise fraud, healthcare data breaches, and criminal computer offenses under NC General Statute 14-453 through 14-458 (the NC Computer Crimes Act). He has been qualified as an expert under Rule 702 and has withstood Daubert challenges to his methodology and conclusions.
Deposition Testimony and Preparation
Expert depositions in digital forensics cases require precise, measured responses that establish the reliability of forensic methods without providing opposing counsel with ammunition for trial. Craig's deposition experience enables him to answer questions accurately, maintain consistent positions, and avoid common deposition traps designed to undermine credibility. We prepare thoroughly before every deposition, reviewing the full case record, anticipating opposing lines of questioning, and ensuring that all forensic work products are consistent with the testimony that will be provided.
For attorneys taking depositions of opposing digital forensics experts, Craig provides technical consultation to develop effective questioning strategies that expose methodological weaknesses, chain-of-custody failures, and unsupported conclusions in the opposing expert's analysis.
Opposing Expert Report Review
Not every engagement requires original forensic examination. When opposing counsel has retained a digital forensics expert, Craig reviews their reports, methodology, and conclusions to identify weaknesses, errors, and unsupported assertions. Common issues include failure to use write-blockers during evidence collection, reliance on automated tools without manual validation, misinterpretation of filesystem metadata, chain-of-custody gaps, and conclusions that exceed the evidence. We provide detailed critique reports that attorneys use to prepare Daubert motions, cross-examination strategies, and rebuttal testimony.
Forensic Evidence Collection for Litigation
When digital evidence must be collected specifically for use in North Carolina litigation, we perform the collection using forensic methodology designed to withstand adversarial challenge. This includes write-blocked imaging with cryptographic hash verification, documented chain-of-custody from collection through courtroom, preservation of volatile data that would otherwise be lost, and forensic imaging of cloud platforms using legally authorized collection methods. For cases where evidence spoliation is a concern, we provide rapid-response collection to preserve data before it can be destroyed or altered.
We also advise North Carolina attorneys on litigation-hold implementation — ensuring that clients preserve relevant digital evidence as required by discovery obligations and avoiding sanctions for spoliation under NC Rules of Civil Procedure.
Case Types We Support Across North Carolina
Our expert witness services span the full range of cases where digital evidence plays a role in North Carolina courts:
- Trade secret theft and IP disputes — data exfiltration analysis, USB device usage reconstruction, cloud-upload detection
- Employment litigation — wrongful termination evidence, harassment via digital communications, non-compete violations
- Data breach and cybercrime — breach scope determination, attack vector identification, incident response forensics
- Financial fraud — wire-fraud reconstruction, cryptocurrency tracing, business email compromise analysis
- Criminal defense and prosecution — computer crimes under NC GS 14-453 to 14-458, digital alibi analysis, evidence authentication
- Insurance claims — cyber-insurance coverage disputes, breach cost documentation, business interruption quantification
- Family law — digital communication recovery, financial record analysis from devices, social media evidence preservation
AI-Enhanced Forensic Analysis for Complex Cases
Complex North Carolina cases involving hundreds of devices, terabytes of data, and millions of documents benefit from AI-powered forensic analysis. Machine learning classifies documents by relevance, identifies communication patterns across email and messaging platforms, detects anomalous data-transfer behavior, and reconstructs event timelines from fragmented evidence. AI-driven tools reduce analysis timelines from months to weeks while improving thoroughness and consistency.
Critically, every AI-generated finding is validated by Craig personally before inclusion in any expert report or testimony. Courts require human accountability for expert opinions, and AI tools serve as analytical assistants rather than autonomous decision-makers. This approach harnesses AI's processing power while preserving the examiner credibility and methodological transparency that North Carolina courts demand.
How Our Expert Witness Engagement Works
A structured engagement process designed for the requirements of North Carolina litigation.
Case Assessment and Engagement
We review the case background, identify the digital evidence at issue, assess our ability to assist, and confirm the absence of conflicts of interest. You receive a clear engagement letter defining scope, deliverables, timeline, and fee structure before any work begins. For time-sensitive matters involving evidence preservation, we can begin preliminary work within hours while the formal engagement is finalized.
Evidence Collection and Analysis
We collect or receive digital evidence using forensic procedures that satisfy NC Rules of Evidence authentication requirements. Analysis is conducted using validated tools with documented processes that can be reproduced and defended in court. We maintain detailed examination notes, tool output logs, and chain-of-custody records throughout the analysis process.
Expert Report and Disclosure
We produce an expert report that complies with NC Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26(b)(4) and Federal Rule 26(a)(2)(B) disclosure requirements, including opinions, basis and reasons, data considered, exhibits, qualifications, publications, prior testimony history, and compensation. The report is reviewed with retaining counsel before disclosure to ensure alignment with case strategy while maintaining the independence and objectivity that expert credibility requires.
Deposition and Trial Testimony
Craig provides deposition and trial testimony in North Carolina venues. Pre-testimony preparation includes case-record review, demonstrative exhibit development, direct-examination rehearsal, and anticipated cross-examination preparation. Craig's courtroom demeanor combines authoritative expertise with clear, accessible communication that resonates with both technically sophisticated and lay audiences.
North Carolina's Trusted Digital Forensics Expert Witness
Craig Petronella — Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner
CMMC Certified Registered Practitioner • MIT Certified • 30+ Years IT/Cybersecurity Experience • Founder, Petronella Technology Group, Inc.
Craig combines offensive security expertise with digital forensic investigation skills and courtroom communication ability. He has testified in cases across North Carolina involving data breaches, trade secret theft, employee misconduct, financial fraud, and criminal computer offenses. His dual perspective as both a cybersecurity consultant and forensic examiner means he understands not only what happened technically but why it matters in the legal context of each case.
Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner
Years Experience
NC State & Federal Courts
Accredited Since 2003
Expert Witness Questions from North Carolina Attorneys
What qualifies Craig Petronella as a digital forensics expert witness?
Craig holds a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner credential, MIT certification, CMMC Certified Registered Practitioner designation, and 30+ years of hands-on experience in cybersecurity and digital forensic investigation. He has been qualified as an expert under NC Rule 702, has withstood Daubert challenges, and has testified in North Carolina state courts and federal courts across the Eastern and Middle Districts. His expertise spans computer forensics, mobile device forensics, email analysis, cloud forensics, network forensics, and data breach investigation.
In which North Carolina courts can Craig testify?
Craig testifies in North Carolina Superior Court and District Court across all 100 counties, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh), the Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro/Durham), and the Western District of North Carolina (Charlotte). He also provides testimony in arbitration proceedings and administrative hearings. Based in Raleigh, he is most frequently retained for Wake County matters but regularly handles cases statewide.
How do you handle Daubert challenges to your methodology?
Our forensic methodology is built on industry-standard procedures recognized by the digital forensics community: NIST SP 800-86 guidelines, SWGDE best practices, and IACIS standards. We use validated forensic tools with documented error rates, peer-reviewed analysis techniques, and reproducible procedures. Every examination step is documented in detail sufficient for independent reproduction. When Daubert motions challenge our methodology, we provide the court with specific citations to the standards, publications, and professional community acceptance that support each analytical technique used.
What is your fee structure for expert witness engagements?
Expert witness fees are billed at an hourly rate with separate rates for investigation and analysis, report preparation, deposition testimony, and trial testimony. A retainer is required at engagement. We provide detailed time records and fee estimates at each phase of the engagement so there are no surprises. Specific rates are disclosed to opposing counsel as part of expert disclosure requirements. Contact us for current rate information based on your case requirements.
Can you review and rebut an opposing expert's forensic report?
Yes. Opposing expert report review is one of our most requested services. We analyze the opposing expert's methodology, tool selection, evidence handling, chain-of-custody documentation, and conclusions to identify weaknesses, errors, and unsupported assertions. We provide a detailed rebuttal report that attorneys use for Daubert motions, cross-examination preparation, and rebuttal testimony. Common issues we identify include improper evidence handling, overreliance on automated tools, misinterpretation of technical artifacts, and conclusions that exceed the factual foundation.
Do you testify for both plaintiffs and defendants?
Yes. Craig provides expert testimony for both plaintiff and defense attorneys, as well as prosecution and criminal defense counsel. The expert witness role requires independence and objectivity — the expert's obligation is to the truth of the findings, not to the retaining party's desired outcome. Craig's credibility in North Carolina courts is built on this independence: he reports findings accurately whether they help or hurt the retaining party's position, because an expert who tailors opinions to client preferences loses credibility the moment opposing counsel exposes the bias.
How quickly can you be retained for a time-sensitive matter?
For urgent matters — emergency evidence preservation, TRO hearings, or imminent spoliation risks — we can begin work within hours of engagement. For standard litigation timelines, we typically begin case review within one to three business days. We recommend engaging the expert early in the litigation lifecycle to ensure that digital evidence is collected and preserved using forensic methods from the outset, rather than attempting to rehabilitate improperly handled evidence later in the case.
How does AI enhance your forensic expert witness work?
AI-powered analysis tools enable us to process larger datasets in less time, which directly benefits cases with voluminous electronic evidence. AI classifies documents, identifies communication patterns, and detects behavioral anomalies across millions of records. However, AI is an analytical assistant, not a replacement for examiner judgment. Every AI-generated finding is independently validated before inclusion in expert reports. This human-in-the-loop approach preserves the credibility and accountability that North Carolina courts require for expert testimony while leveraging technology to deliver more thorough and timely results.
Your Case Deserves a Qualified Digital Forensics Expert
Digital evidence can make or break your case. Contact Craig Petronella to discuss your matter, assess the digital evidence at issue, and engage a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner with the credentials, experience, and courtroom presence that North Carolina judges and juries trust.
Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner • BBB Accredited Since 2003 • Founded 2002 • 2,500+ Clients