Cooper Ouellette - Last Ride Home Trial | Day 5

Cooper Ouellette - Last Ride Home Murder Trial | Day 5 Day 5 of the Connecticut trial of Cooper Ouellette, who is charged in the death of 17-year-old Sophie after a night in May 2023. Sophie died after leaving Ouellette’s pickup truck on Field View Drive. The case turns on cell phone location data, and this day focuses on that evidence. State’s witness: Mark Sanders (NESPIN criminal intelligence analyst) Sanders describes his training, his certification in call detail record and geolocation analysis, and his experience testifying as an expert. He explains how Life360 gets location data from the iPhone and how he mapped it in Google Earth. He describes the difference between “server points” and “sample points” in the Life360 data, and how he calculated speed for the sample points. He describes his Tesla test of the speed calculation and why he only displayed speeds where horizontal accuracy was 5 meters or better. The jury watches his two animations. They show both phones’ paths and stops through the night, plus surveillance clips, road signs, Snapchat screenshots, texts from Sophie’s phone and the crash scene map. The animations show the devices turning onto Locust Road, separating on Field View Drive, and Ouellette’s phone then looping back and heading home. Defense cross-examination: The defense questions Sanders on several points: this was his first case using Life360, a consumer app with a legal disclaimer about speed and location accuracy his speed calculation method was tested only once, in a different car and phone, on different roads, in daylight only about 67% of his test results fell within one mile per hour the “anomaly” in Sophie’s phone data, a backward movement of 200 to 250 miles per hour the 11-minute gap in Ouellette’s Life360 data, and the fact that Sophie’s phone cannot be placed in the truck at the key moment the lack of notes, the limits of his speed-calculation method, and information he relied on from Detective Slavey Redirect: The prosecution has Sanders explain his formulas, why the anomalous points were left out of the animation, and that surveillance video backed up the location data. The State then rests its case. Defense case Objection to the defense expert: The State objects to defense expert Jeff Martin testifying. The judge overrules the objection. Defense witness: Jeff Martin (digital forensics expert, Evidence Solutions, Inc.) Martin testifies remotely. He says Life360 data is not reliable enough to determine speed or precise location. He cites the company’s own help documentation and the factors that affect phone signal strength. He says any anomalies should be documented and investigated. State’s cross-examination of Martin: He has not reviewed the Life360 logs, the phone extractions or the NESPIN reports in this case. He has not tested Life360. He was paid hourly. He did not return calls or emails from the State. His earlier testimony and his company’s published statements praise the accuracy of phone GPS. Prior inconsistent statements from his earlier hearing testimony are admitted. Redirect: He says he has never known of a case that used Life360 to determine a vehicle’s speed or location accurately, and he describes a time the app gave a wrong location for his own son. Defense witness: Detective Ryan Slavey (Connecticut State Police, lead investigator) Defense counsel questions Slavey about: when he was called to Bristol Hospital and what he knew why no one asked Ouellette for a sobriety test, and why no blood warrant was sought, on the day of the crash how he later became lead investigator the search warrant for Ouellette’s phone and its extraction the canvass at the Schultz Corporation, where officers did not pursue a surveillance camera the owner said was not working The court breaks early for the day during this testimony. #CooperOuellette #sophierinquist #LiveTrial #CourtTrial