Cell Phone Data - Criminal Defense Attorney Analysis - Idaho v. Kohberger

If the defense strategy will be to systematically attack the State's evidence, how will they approach and break down the cell site location information obtained from his phone records? As with all forensic evidence, the devil is in the details; so, we look at some of the questions the defense team is likely to be asking. After an overview of how the communications between cell phones and cell towers can be used to calculate the phone's position, we'll talk about the factors that can affect how reliable and precise these determinations are and why it's potentially a pretty different situation in Moscow, Idaho than in denser urban settings. We also see a hint in the probable cause affidavit that the cell data may not tell the whole story when it comes to determining Bryan Kohberger's location.

00:00 Intro
01:16 Why the pings are important in the circumstantial picture
02:39 There's a lot NOT said in the p/c affidavit that affects the pings
03:29 Pings: the basics
05:00 The two best methods of locating a phone: GPS and triangulation
07:16 Because you need multiple connections to triangulate, cell tower density is key
08:23 Overlapping cell coverage isn't as common in rural areas
10:00 The p/c affidavit uses vague language that doesn't tell us the strength of the data
12:32 There's a question whether the pings reliably establish cell phone location
15:17 The legal standards for admitting scientific evidence generally require reliability
19:04 Want to learn more? Links below!
19:49 Coming up: How the defense will approach the DNA evidence

For more reading:

Blank, Aaron, The Limitations and Admissibility of Using Historical Cellular Site Data to Track the Location of a Cellular Phone, 18 Rich. J. L. & Tech. 3 (2011): https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1354&context=jolt

For more detail on the technical issues:

Hussain, Syed Asad et al., Positioning a Mobile Subscriber in a Cellular Network System Based on Signal Strength, IAENG Int'l J. of Comp. Science, 34:2 (2007): https://www.iaeng.org/IJCS/issues_v34/issue_2/IJCS_34_2_13.pdf