Opinion ID: 1755457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Cricket Communications Records

Text: Michael Filip was a switch tech for Cricket Communications (Cricket), working on the central computer system that interacted with the cellular sites. Filip testified that Cricket keeps records for all active or inactive customers, collecting personal information input into its system by customer representatives, including a customer's name, address, and billing address. The identification code for the telephone and the corresponding telephone number are assigned to that customer. Filip testified that the information was input as it was received from the customer, for identification and billing purposes, in the regular course of business for Cricket. Filip explained that to connect a call, each time a customer turns on a cellular telephone, the telephone searches for the closest tower that can provide service for that telephone, then it registers with the switch system to establish that the customer is valid and that the telephone is in usable condition. When the customer attempts to make a call, data are kept regarding the call. Filip testified that those records were also made contemporaneously with the events recorded, for business purposes, in the regular course of the business activities of Cricket. Filip identified exhibits 106 through 113 as Cricket telephone records. In particular, exhibit 108 contained call records for Mayfield's cellular telephone, exhibit 112 contained call records for the telephone that had been found in the victim's vehicle, and exhibit 113 contained call records for a cellular telephone purchased in the names of the defendant and his business. Each call entry in exhibits 112 and 113 showed the billed telephone number, the dialed telephone number, a date and time stamp for the call, the length of the call, and the cellular tower and sector face information (i.e., location data) for the call. The defendant objected to the exhibits on the basis of hearsay and foundation, and he specifically argued that data contained in exhibits 112 and 113 should be subject to a Daubert hearing. The objections were overruled, and the exhibits were received. Douglas Broer was a field engineer for Cricket, responsible for maintaining and optimizing the network of cellular sites throughout the city. As part of his duties, Broer would drive the entire city, collecting data regarding the network's coverage. Broer explained that in Omaha, Cricket has approximately 60 cellular sites, spread throughout the city based on capacity and coverage needs, all linked back to a central switch. Each cellular site includes three sectors, or directions in which signals flow, generally aimed at 120-degree angles from one another. For instance, a particular cellular tower might have three sectors, one directed north, one directed southeast, and the other directed southwest. Each sector puts out a constantly generated pilot signal. When a call is generated, the cellular telephone finds the strongest pilot signal and sets up the call on the corresponding sector. The sector serving the geographic area where the telephone is located is most likely the one that will be utilized to set up the call. After the call is established, the telephone can utilize several towers at the same time, but during the call setup phase, it uses only the sector with the strongest signal. Once a traffic channel has been established, the signals go from the cellular site to the switch and are then routed back out either to another telephone, if the call is to another Cricket customer, or to another telephone company's switch, if the call is to a customer of another service provider. Cricket keeps records of the sector and tower utilized to set up each call. From those, Broer testified that the physical location of the sectors and towers could be determined from the call record database. Broer admitted on cross-examination that if there was a problem with a particular cellular site, it was possible for a call to be placed through another site farther away. Broer also admitted that since the pilot signal is a radio signal, it was a possibility that a stray signal could bounce off a building or something in the atmosphere and end up someplace else, although the signal is generally in the intended location.