3.Ronald Witt — Direct
97 linesMS. NORRIS: State calls Ron witt.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Say that again.
MS. NORRIS: Ron Witt.
JUDGE HANKINSON: If you'd face the clerk and be sworn, please, sir.
whereupon, RONALD WITT was called as a witness, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
JUDGE HANKINSON: Have a seat and slide up to the microphone, please, sir.
You may proceed.
MS. NORRIS: Thank you.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. NORRIS:
MS. NORRIS: Good afternoon.
RONALD WITT: Afternoon.
MS. NORRIS: Can you introduce yourself to the jurors?
RONALD WITT: My name is Ronald witt. That's R-O-N-A-L-D, + =W-I-T-T.
MS. NORRIS: And where are you employed?
RONALD WITT: I work for T-Mobile.
MS. NORRIS: what is T-Mobile?
RONALD WITT: A cell phone company.
MS. NORRIS: And what is your position with T-Mobile?
RONALD WITT: I am part of what's known as the law enforcement relations group.
MS. NORRIS: what are your typical duties inside of the law enforcement relations group?
RONALD WITT: Primarily, the bulk of our work is production of records when we receive an appropriate legal demand. we also provide assistance on a 24/7 basis to 911 and law enforcement with emergencies involving cell phones. And then I work as a testifier where I appear in court to verify and attest to T-Mobile records.
MS. NORRIS: How long have you been employed with T-Mobile?
RONALD WITT: I'm in my fifteenth year.
MS. NORRIS: How long have you been testifying as -- I believe you said to authenticate T-Mobile records?
RONALD WITT: Around 14 years.
MS. NORRIS: So most of your time with T-Mobile?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: You mentioned, obviously, and I know it's common knowledge, T-Mobile is a telephone company?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: Do they provide cell coverage for people here in Tallahassee, Florida?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And to do that, does T-Mobile have cell towers or cell sites located around this community to provide that service?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: The cell towers that are here, or anywhere for that matter, that are T-Mobile's, do they collect data every time the customers nearby are using the towers to communicate?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And if I sent, for example, on my phone -- I'm with verizon, sorry -- but if I send a text message or I make a phone call, does my phone communicate with that tower -- communicate with that tower in order to facilitate that communication?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And all of the towers here in Tallahassee, does T-Mobile keep records of all of those transactions that -- of communications with the cell towers?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: The records that are kept of those events, calls or text messages, are those recorded by T-Mobile at the same time as the actual transaction is happening?
RONALD WITT: Contemporaneously with the event happening.
MS. NORRIS: So at or near the time of the event, the same event is being recorded by your company?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And it's the normal course of your business to keep and maintain those records?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: You mentioned earlier that part of your duties, excuse me, are to comply with legal demand. what does that mean?
RONALD WITT: well, we receive requests for records. It could be, you know, in the form of various type of legal demands; subpoenas, court orders, search warrants, from various agencies, both government and nongovernmental agencies. And we are the central point of contact for T-Mobile to respond to such requests.
MS. NORRIS: So let's say that T-Mobile gets a legal demand for records. Walk me through how the process is initiated to prepare and respond to that legal demand appropriately.
RONALD WITT: A legal demand will come in to our -- again, to our office through a centralized database. It will be reviewed to see what type of request it is; you know, what they're looking for, the type of legal demand it is, and sorted based on, again, the type of legal demand and what they're looking for. It goes into a queue and then it will be assigned to one of the specialists who process the legal demand.
MS. NORRIS: And how does the specialist process the legal demand? Do they --
RONALD WITT: we have -- yeah, we have an internal computerized program. we enter in the basic information, who the requester is, the type of request, the information they're looking for. Generally it has a specific phone number, we refer to that as the target number, and a specific date range of records they're looking for. That's the most general request that we receive.
It's an automated system. They input that information, hit enter, it generates a unique tracking number for that. And then once the records populate, we forward it on to the requesting agency.
MS. NORRIS: So you would have a point of contact at the requesting agency that would request the records pursuant to a search warrant. Then you would do this automated system to process it and the system would spit out the response that would then be e-mailed back to the point of contact at the requesting agency?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: Did I get that right?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: Okay. So there's not really any human involvement except for entering the parameters of what exactly is being requested from the records of T-Mobile?
RONALD WITT: Correct.
MS. NORRIS: In this case, did TPD issue a search warrant to T-Mobile for a tower dump at three specified locations here in Tallahassee?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And a tower dump, is that where we're basically asking for any phone numbers that communicated with these particular cell towers within these certain areas during these certain periods of time?
RONALD WITT: Correct. You have a specific address and generally a range from that address and a time frame. And then any information that transpired over the cell sites within the range of that desired location will be captured.
MS. NORRIS: And in this case, we asked for, I believe, a Trescott Drive location, a Maclay Boulevard location, and then a west Tharpe Street location?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And then you were trying to get any towers within a one-and-a-half mile radius of each of those three specific addresses?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: For a certain time frame?
RONALD WITT: Correct.
MS. NORRIS: And did T-Mobile in this case comply with that legal -- with that search warrant from the Tallahassee Police Department?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: May I approach, Your Honor?
JUDGE HANKINSON: You may.
BY MS. NORRIS:
MS. NORRIS: I'm showing you what I've previously shown defense counsel and marked for identification as State's Exhibit 139.
Do you recognize that CD?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And how do you recognize it?
RONALD WITT: I reviewed the contents earlier and then I initialled and dated the cD.
MS. NORRIS: The actual CD?
RONALD WITT: Yes.
MS. NORRIS: And what's contained on that CD?
RONALD WITT: It has an electronic version of the records that we provided in response to the legal demand you mentioned -- legal demand you mentioned previously.
MS. NORRIS: And those are the records that T-Mobile -- the exact records that T-Mobile provided back to Sergeant Corbitt with the Tallahassee Police Department, pursuant to the search warrant?
RONALD WITT: They're consistent with the records we provided previously in 2014.
MS. NORRIS: Your Honor, at this time, I'd offer into evidence State's Exhibit 139.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Any objection?
MR. ZANGENEH: None from Mr. Garcia.
MR. DECOSTE: No objection.
JUDGE HANKINSON: It will be admitted.
(State's Exhibit No. 139 received in evidence.)
MS. NORRIS: Thank you, Mr. Witt.
I have no further questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Cross.
MR. ZANGENEH: NO cross.
MR. DECOSTE: No questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. You can step down. Do we need to keep Mr. witt any further?
MS. NORRIS: No, Your Honor, he can be excused.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Anybody need him for any reason?
MR. ZANGENEH: No, Your Honor, thank you.
MR. DECOSTE: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: You're excused. Thank you for being here.
Call your next witness.