Holly Bobo Trial: Defense refocuses on Britt as possible killer, cell phone data

Day nine of the Holly Bobo trial opened with heated exchanges between prosecutors and a witness called by the defense.

Zach Adams is on trial for the alleged kidnapping, rape, and murder of Holly Bobo on April 13, 2011. His defense team, led by Jennifer Thompson, has maintained his innocence, attempting to shift reasonable doubt that another man could be responsible for Bobo’s murder. Agent John Walker testified about his communication with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) based on his experience tracking people based off cell phone data.

Walker says he traced the data from from Holly Bobo’s phone the day of her disappearance, mapping out and driving her potential path. It was based on this data that Walker says he told TBI Agent Dicus and others in 2012 they should be searching for Holly’s body north by the freeway, the same area where her remains were ultimately found…

Full article from Fox17 Nashville Here

Verizon ‘in talks’ with Canadian carriers about flaky signal

Steve Van Dinter, Great Lakes Market spokesman for Verizon, said the Federal Communications Commission told the company to turn down its local signal strength after Canadian cell carriers took issue with American signals bleeding over the border.

He said the carrier had to comply with the order in December 2016, or face a “substantial” fine.

“Typically, we will see coverage (shift), especially in areas like the Midwest where you’ve got a lot of spring and summer foliage. (It is a) season difference,” Van Dinter said.

According to the FCC, the U.S. and Canada have agreements in place to cover use of radio frequencies along the border with the intent of licensees being able to provide coverage while avoiding interference. Most agreements require licensees not exceed signal limit from cell towers at the border unless both agree to specific conditions.Neither Verizon nor the FCC disclosed what that signal limit was. However, Van Dinter said that is what they’re working on.

Read more from The Times Herald here

Cellphone-mapping expert details locations of accused killers’ phones on day of Xiaopeng “Pippen” Yuan’s death

The cellphones belonging to Cameron Isaac and Ninimbe Mitchell were in approximately the same location where Xiaopeng “Pippen” Yuan was killed at the time he was killed, an expert said Wednesday during the murder trial of Isaac and Mitchell. Rafal Dobrowolski, an expert in cellphone mapping and analysis, used Google Maps to show jurors the approximate locations of the cellphones belonging to Isaac and Mitchell in the hours leading up to Yuan’s death. Dobrowolski works in the criminal investigations unit of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office. Dobrowolski’s analysis of cellphones is possible because of cell tower information. When a cellphone sends a signal to a cell tower, it can then be traced to the approximate area where the cellphone is located

Read more from The Daily Orange here

Teen seeking lost cell phone bled to death in parking lot, murder trial hears

Mohamed Sail, 26, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Cook’s death on June 14, 2014. The Crown says it followed a dispute over a cell phone that Cook had lost earlier. Cook had tracked the phone to Sail using an online app, according to the Crown. Cook had gone out to celebrate a friend’s birthday party at Jack’s, a downtown London bar, but Cook lost his cell phone in the back seat of a cab on the way there.

It wasn’t until he returned home later that night that he used the app in order to pinpoint the iPhone’s exact location, Ball said.

Read more from CBC here

Cellphone records barred from trial; illegal search cited

Little Rock police illegally searched a capital-murder suspect’s cellphone, a Pulaski County circuit judge has ruled in an order barring prosecutors from using the defendant’s phone records at trial. Judge Leon Johnson on Monday sided with defense attorneys Bret Qualls and Lott Rolfe IV to suppress the records of 41-year-old Donald Lee Brown of Little Rock after hearing testimony that police examined the call history on Brown’s flip phone immediately after his arrest.

Read more at Arkansas Online