Prosecutors focus on phone records in Scott Brooks murder trial

Pages of phone records were the central focus on Thursday in the trial for the shooting death of a NoDa sandwich shop owner.

The suspects’ phones pinged near Brooks’ Sandwich House in the days leading up to Scott Brooks’ death and the morning of the crime, prosecutors said.

An FBI special agent reinforced that argument Thursday.

Prosecutors showed the jury cellphone data from the phones associated with Terry Conner and Steven Staples in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 2019, which was the day Brooks was killed.

>>Watch the video at the top of this webpage for more testimony from today.

FBI special agent Mathew Wilde took the stand Thursday to explain to the jury how law enforcement can track specific data from cellphones using towers all over the city.

He then walked the jury through the suspects’ cellphone records the morning Brooks was killed to show the jury that both phones were pinging near the homes that prosecutors say Conner and Staples lived.

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Wilde showed those phones pinging closer and closer to the area of Brooks Sandwich House around the time that Brooks was killed.

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However, each suspects’ defense attorneys tried to show the jury there was no way to pinpoint the exact location where the phones were at. The defense attorneys also said there was no proof their clients were the ones holding those phones in that area that morning.

The DNA of the mother of Conner’s child was found on a shell casing at the scene, according to earlier testimony.

The FBI special agent testified Thursday that when the crime happened, the woman’s cellphone was pinging near her South Carolina home.

Trial will continue Friday where we expect to hear from the medical examiner.

And after that, prosecutors could rest their case.

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