Edward Walsh trial defense expert disputes use of cell records

A computer expert for the defense in the Edward Walsh theft and fraud case Tuesday disputed federal prosecutors’ attempt to use the Suffolk County Conservative Party leader’s cellphone data to locate him outside the county jail when he was collecting pay for working there.

The testimony of Joseph Kennedy, of Cherry Biometrics in Falls Church, Virginia, who asserted that the cellphone data was unreliable in locating a person, was one of the last witnesses called by Walsh’s attorneys before the defense rested in federal court in Central Islip.

Walsh is charged with theft of government funds and wire fraud for collecting more than $200,000 in pay and overtime for working as a lieutenant at the Suffolk County jail while he was actually golfing, gambling at a casino, working for the Conservative Party and being around his East Islip neighborhood, according to Eastern District federal prosecutors Catherine Mirabile and Raymond Tierney.

A key part of the government’s case is matching the location of Walsh’s cellphone calls with time slips and records of those activities outside the Riverhead jail.

A government expert on cellphones, Eduardo Orellana, of ISR in Manhattan, who has worked on locating and installing cellphone towers on Long Island, previously testified that cellphone records cannot pinpoint the exact location of a person. But the location of the person making the call can usually be approximately determined because the signal usually strikes a nearby cellphone transmission tower whose location is known.

But Kennedy maintained under questioning by Walsh’s attorney, Leonard Lato, of Hauppauge, that a signal from a cellphone can strike a tower as far away as 21.7 miles, incorrectly locating the phone’s user.

Kennedy, who said he had testified as an expert in five previous trials, also said that which tower a cellphone signal strikes can be determined by a number of factors, other than nearby location, including local electromagnetic influence from police radios and even the passing of a large truck nearby.

Under questioning by Tierney, Kennedy acknowledged he did not have an extensive background in cellphone technology and had only been working in the field for nine months.

Kennedy also acknowledged that while the technology used in some cellphones might transmit a signal for 21.7 miles, the technology used in Walsh’s Verizon’s cellphone and the closeness of the large number of towers the company used on Long Island made it difficult for many of the signals to travel that great a distance.

With both the defense and prosecution now having rested their cases, U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt said he would have a conference Wednesday with the lawyers on both sides to determine how to instruct the jury. He said summations will take place Thursday, after which he would give the case to the jury.

By Robert E. Kessler

Robert.Kessler@newsday.com

Bob Kessler covers federal law, including law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS and ATF, as well as the federal courts.