BOISE, Idaho — On day 28 of the trial of Chad Daybell, the defense focused on DNA evidence recovered from the bodies of Tylee and JJ, as well as location data for Chad and Alex Cox on significant dates in the case. Live updates from the courtroom are available below.
DAY 27 | Court TV: Chad Daybell Trial on Tuesday discusses possible cause of death of Tammy Daybell
1:46 pm: Following the sidebar, Judge Boyce decides to excuse the public from the courtroom. No further testimony is set to happen today, the Judge will be working on scheduling issues with the defense and prosecution.
1:40 pm: Prior asks for a sidebar ahead of testimony from the next witness.
1:34 pm: Prior asks if there is an accurate way to determine how DNA materials got on the tools recovered from the Daybell property, Hampikian says not through the analysis of DNA. Prior has no further questions and Hampikian is released from the witness stand.
1:33 pm: Wood has no further questions. Prior initiates his re-direct.
1:32 pm: Wood asks Hampikian if he reviewed the testing conducted on various tools and materials recovered in relation to the bodies of JJ and Tylee.
1:28 pm: Hampikian clarifies, at the direction of Wood, that his lab is not accredited but is an educational lab. He explains that the lab is fully functional.
1:20 pm: Hampikian says there was also no indication of errors or problems with the DNA testing process. Prior has no further questions, Wood now prepares to cross-examine.
1:09 pm: Dr. Hampikian explains that there was no evidence that Chad Daybell's DNA was present on anything that was tested from the bodies of JJ and Tylee.
11:57 am: Judge Boyce calls for an afternoon recess. Testimony from Dr. Hampikian will continue after the break around 1:00 pm.
11:33 am: Dr. Hampikian explains that he has worked with DNA evidence in many cases. He confirms that he has also worked with international police. He explains that he has a great deal of experience reviewing forensic reports from other agencies.
11:28 am: Prior calls Dr. Greg Hampikian, Director of the Forensic Justice Project at Boise State University and Co-Director of the Idaho Innocence Project, to the witness stand.
11:23 am: Prior has Eller briefly reiterate that there was no data indicating that Alex and Chad were on the Daybell property during key dates at the same time as one another. Following the question, Eller is released from the witness stand.
11:22 am: Wood has no further questions, Prior now re-directs.
11:17 am: Eller confirms that the communications on the day of the attempted paintball gun attack were made using two phones that were activated on that day by Chad and Alex.
11:14 am: Eller disagrees with the number of texts exchanged between Alex and Chad on the day that Tammy Daybell reported the paintball attack.
11:12 am: Eller confirms that Alex Cox's devices were near the locations of the buried bodies on both Sept. 9 and Sept. 23.
11:03 am: Eller says he was not aware that the text sent by Chad about the burial of a raccoon and burning of limbs assisted law enforcement in the discovery of the bodies.
11:02 am: Eller also confirms that Chad made a call to Alex Cox at 8:11 am and again an hour later on Sept. 9. Many of the data points for Cox's device after those calls place him on the Daybell property, near the burial sites for Tylee and JJ.
10:53 am: Eller confirms that a device associated with Alex Cox was at apartment 175, Lori's apartment, in the early morning of Sept. 9.
10:49 am: Wood displays a slide from the previous exhibit, Eller confirms that it depicts location data from Alex Cox's device.
10:48 am: Wood asks Eller about the date of Tylee's death.
10:43 am: Prior has no further questions, Wood now prepares to cross-examine.
10:39 am: Eller testifies that the digital information collected by law enforcement was using a tool that he did not have access to. He explains that recreating the digital forensics information would be difficult due to the specific algorithms used by the law enforcement software. Eller says it is fair to say that the information requires that we rely on the word of the involved law enforcement agencies.
10:32 am: On the day of the paintball attack on Tammy Daybell, Alex Cox's device was on the property between 4:50 pm and 5:00 pm.
10:25 am: The data in the exhibit indicates that Alex Cox's device was at the Daybell residence on Sept. 9 in the morning. The data is unable to determine
10:21 am: Eller explains that he prepared a report following his review of the data.
10:20 am: Following the break, Prior continues to question Eller, who explains that there were around 10 terabytes of data that he reviewed for Sept. 9 and Sept. 23.
9:41 pm: Prior moves to admit an exhibit with more digital information from the devices of Chad Daybell and Alex Cox, but some redactions need to be made. A mid-morning recess is called while those changes are made.
9:18 am: Prior asks if there is data to suggest Chad Daybell's device was part of the location data collected on his property on September 9, 2019. Eller says there was no indication that Chad was on his property between 9:19 am and 12:10 pm. Eller also says it can be difficult to disable all of the data collected by Google unless you completely shut a device down,
9:15 am: The day in court kicks off as the defense calls Patrick Eller to the witness stand, he's the CEO of Metadata Forensic and a digital forensics examiner.
