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Advanced technology is changing the way criminal courts gather evidence, according to New Jersey criminal defense attorneys, and your trusted cell phone may contain damning evidence that works against you.
Anthony Rose, a 27-year old arrested in 2009 and accused of fatally shooting another man on West Side Avenue in Jersey City, learned the hard way. At his recent trial, attorneys presented evidence that Rose’s cell phone sent out signals from the surrounding cell phone towers just minutes before and after the shooting.
Cell phones have become invaluable in the information they store about their owner—call logs, text messages, and geographic locations, to name a few. This tracking capability, especially in a smart phone, is what makes such phones easy to use and so attuned to your daily life. But this data mine can also be a downfall, New Jersey criminal attorneys warn, because a daily log of your activities makes it harder to disprove any criminal endeavors you may have committed while carrying your cell phone.
In Rose’s trial, attorneys presented charts that mapped out Rose’s cell phone signal throughout the night of the murder, highlighting the calls he made and received around the time the murder occurred. The charts showed that Rose’s phone signal bounced off of the towers closest to the deli on West Side Avenue, where the victim was shot.
While this evidence proves that Rose’s cell phone was at the scene of the crime, it does not necessarily mean Rose himself was present, and that is the angle that New Jersey criminal attorneys might work in order to defend against cell phone evidence. Although cell phones are a prevalent feature in our culture, and many people carry one religiously, the possibility that cell phones can be stolen, lost, or sold makes it hard to rule out misleading or planted evidence. Technology has yet to catch up the law in that aspect, and the incriminating location provided by a cell phone signal does not mean the owner of the phone made or received the calls.
Cell phones are a vital form of connection and communication in this digital age, but cell phone owners run the risk of being falsely incriminated when their gadgets are lost or change hands. The experienced New Jersey criminal attorneys at Helmer, Conley, and Kasselman are aware of these risks, and can help those charged with a crime avoid a conviction based on technological evidence alone.
The New Jersey criminal defense lawyers at Helmer Paul Conley and Kasselman represent persons charged with murder, DUI, drug crimes, sex crimes, fraud, assault and other crimes across New Jersey.
