Aaron Colwell Case

Cybercrime is a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime or tool used to commit a crime. Cybercriminals may use a computer for communication and documentation when perform such illegal activities, which could be used as electronic or digital evidence. Electronic or digital evidence is information stored or transmitted and it may be need in court. This evidence can be found on a hard drive, cell phone, digital camera, Internet software program, etc. One of the most elusive criminals, the BTK serial killer, was able to be captured and prosecuted due to a floppy disk. However, for computer records to be admissible in federal courts, the information has to be listed as potential hearsay.
Federal courts view computer records in two

Colwell in 2006. Aaron Colwell appealed his conviction of two counts of making a false report. On March 11, 2004, the Bloomfield Foundry received two telephone calls of bomb threats. The employees were evacuated and authorities conducted a search of the foundry, the calls were confirmed to be false. Telephone records obtained showed that two calls came from the same phone number at the time of the bomb-threat calls. During the investigation, it was discovered that calls came from the home phone number of a foundry employee, Aaron Colwell. Colwell denied making the calls, claiming he was not at home at the time. Colwell was charged with two counts of making a false report and found guilty following a jury trial in December 2004. Colwell appealed the verdict. One of the issues Colwell raised on appeal was the admission of two telephone records documenting calls between Colwell’s residence and the foundry. He argued that the records were inadmissible hearsay. Iowa uses the same definition of hearsay as the Federal Rule of Evidence. Prosecution argued that the evidence at trial showed that the computers which generated telephone records are programmed to automatically log and compile a record of calls made to or from a certain number. The general manager of the telephone company, testified as to how the records were secured. The State does not dispute that it offered the telephone records to prove the truth of the matter. The records showed that calls to the foundry at the time the bomb threats were made came from Colwell's home phone. That being said, the State urges that the records are not hearsay because they were produced by a computer that automatically records the trace between numbers when calls are placed. In its argument, the State of Iowa also relied on this excerpt and argued the phone records should not be treated as hearsay, but rather admissible due to the reliability and