John Gose, a former federal prosecutor who specializes in cybersecurity, technology and privacy, said the data shows Wade was near Willis’ home in the late night and early morning hours, even if that was possible. “This is incredibly horrifying evidence.” I can’t prove he was with her.
“If I were a prosecutor trying to prove in court that they perjured and that they made false statements, this would probably be enough to get a conviction,” Gose told the Atlanta Journal-Con. told the Constitution newspaper. “And I think the jury would agree. It’s very strong circumstantial evidence.”
Paul Steffes, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Georgia Tech who testified about cell phone location data at trial, said the evidence doesn’t prove Wade stayed in one place.. At best, he said, the data seems to indicate that Wade may have been driving around and was within a 9-square-mile area that includes Willis’ condo.
“It sounds to me like these guys are inexperienced and don’t understand the limitations of the data and tools they’re using,” Steffes said of Trump’s team.
Multiple experts said Friday that the CellHawk technology used by President Trump’s investigators to determine where Wade spent time in 2021 is accurate and has been commonly used by law enforcement for more than a decade. Stated.
Former Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, who routinely used cell phone location technology in major criminal prosecutions, called CellHawk “very reliable.” John Acevedo, a professor at Emory University who specializes in criminal law, said it is “called the gold standard in software.”
“This is one of the most used software in the country and is very well-received and accepted,” Acevedo told the AJC. “The analysis (of Wade’s cell phone data) seems to be in place. I think we need to hear from him about what he was doing in the area that day.”
Wade testified last week that he may have been in the Hapeville area for a variety of reasons, including visiting the airport or a restaurant.
Ramnath Chellappa, a professor at Emory University who specializes in information systems and operations management, says cell phone tracking technology can provide a “fairly reliable” indication of a person’s movements, assuming the person is carrying a cell phone. He said he could provide it.
“Your cell phone is basically a chip in your body,” he said. “You can build a profile of that individual’s presence and their travel path based on that.”
Ghose, Acevedo and Chellappa said the size of the area in which a cell phone can be tracked depends on how many cell towers there are nearby. In urban areas, the number of towers increases, which improves accuracy.
“The height can be between 50 and 500 feet,” Chellappa said. “In rural areas, you can get coverage from miles away.”
Marietta criminal defense attorney Lawrence Zimmerman said he has used CellHawk in some cases and found it accurate.
Zimmerman said cell phone data uploaded to the analysis tool “cannot be manipulated.” “The question may be whether the mobile phone data itself is accurate.”
Acevedo said one recent high-profile criminal case in which cell phone tracking data was used was the 2022 University of Idaho murder case in which four students were stabbed to death in an off-campus residence.
Acevedo said the technique “has been fairly widely accepted in the courts.” “In fact, I think all courts have now accepted this information as basic information about the general area of where the owner of the cell phone was at the time.”
But Karthikeyan Sundaresan, another professor of electrical and computer engineering at Georgia Tech, echoed Steffes’ concerns. He said the phone might “ping” the specific tower being studied, but he might also ping other towers nearby.
He said it could be difficult to find the phone if all the towers are not searched. Sundaresan reviewed his affidavit and called it “speculation.”
“You can guess, but it’s not very accurate,” he said.
