Jennifer Dulos case: Attorney calls for phone evidence to be thrown out
Jennifer Dulos case: Attorney calls for phone evidence to be thrown out
If he asked for the phone back after a search warrant was obtained, then there will be no grounds to suppress evidence, she said. But if he asked for the phone back before the search warrant was obtained, and was refused, there could be a problem, she said.
“It all hinges on how long before they got the warrant did he ask for it back,” said Paz, who previously worked with Pattis.
Police may be able to claim an exigency due to the fact a woman was missing, she said. The phone was seized “under the belief it contained evidence of a crime and/or information which could lead to the discovery of Jennifer Dulos,” arrest warrants said.
The other issue is the records turned over to police by Fotis Dulos’ cellphone provider, she added. It is unlikely that a judge will rule that the phone records — which in this case police said led to evidence connecting Fotis Dulos to the disappearance — should be suppressed since investigators could have gathered them without the physical phone, she said.
Police obtained search warrants for a forensic review of the phone and for a review of the cellphone records associated with the device, the arrest warrant said. The search warrants in the case are sealed until September. Stamford State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo declined to comment Monday on Pattis’ request for a suppression hearing on the phone.
