they CAN be used when part of a totality of evidence.
they just busted a shooter on the U of M(MN) campus here this week using this method.
My point was that cell phone evidence cannot be used to establish an alibi since while the cell phone may have hit a certain tower at a certain time, that doesn’t establish who was carrying the phone.
For example, a murder was committed at 10pm. At 10:20pm, the suspect’s cell phone hits a tower signal 55 miles away and an hour later hits one 100 miles away along the same interstate. The suspect’s attorney argues that his client was miles away from the crime by virtue of his cell phone being logged miles away. In the case I vaguely recall, the judge ruled that evidence inadmissible because a confederate could have been carrying the phone.