Expert witness

John Sawicki

Digital-forensics and cell-tower expert who testified for Sigfredo Garcia in the Garcia/Magbanua 2019 trial and was listed but never called by the defense in the 2022 Magbanua retrial.

Appeared Garcia–Magbanua

Mentioned Magbanua Retrial

154 lines · 4 appearances · 4 mentions · 2 trials

About

Sawicki's testimony provides a sustained explanation of the limits of the phone evidence — what a gap between carrier records and an iCloud extraction does and does not prove, and how far cell-tower activity can narrow a phone's location. Because he stated those limits under both direct and cross-examination, his testimony is a useful reference point for anyone tracing how the digital and cell-site evidence was contested.

Across Trials

The change across the two proceedings is one of participation rather than of role or credibility. In the Garcia/Magbanua 2019 trial Sawicki was a fully developed defense expert whose testimony ran through direct, a brief examination for Magbanua, cross-examination, and redirect, and whose analysis of the call-detail and cell-tower material was tested at length. In the 2022 Magbanua retrial he never testified: he was raised only twice, once as a scheduling uncertainty that was immediately withdrawn and once when the defense announced it would not call him at all, alongside the dropping of Stephen Downing. The record establishes that the defense did not call him in 2022 but gives no reason specific to him and records no reassessment of his qualifications or earlier analysis.

Trial Record (8)

GM Garcia–Magbanua Sep 26, 2019 – Oct 11, 2019

Trial Summary

Testified on Day 8 as Sigfredo Garcia's retained digital-forensics and cell-tower expert, comparing AT&T call-detail records against Charlie Adelson's iCloud data and addressing what cell-tower activity can and cannot establish about a phone's location.

Appearances (4)

Direct

John Sawicki - Direct

John Sawicki - Redirect

Day 8

Mentioned (2)

Procedural

State Rests and Judgments of Acquittal

Day 8 Procedural

Bennett Hearsay, Corbitt Sequestration, and Magbanua Testimony

Day 9

KM Magbanua Retrial May 18, 2022 – May 27, 2022

Trial Summary

Listed as a defense expert witness, Sawicki was withdrawn before testifying — first flagged as a scheduling uncertainty, then dropped from the witness list entirely without explanation.

Mentioned (2)

Procedural

Afternoon Recess — Defense Scheduling and Trial Calendar

Day 6 Procedural

Defense Withdraws Two Witnesses; Text Message Exhibits Discussed

Day 7