Evidence from Ruben Ebron's phone questioned

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Major developments came to light Thursday during one of Ruben Ebron's final pretrial hearings. Ebron faces charges of child neglect, evidence tampering and lying to police in connection to the disappearance of toddler Lonzie Barton.
 
Lonzie's sister will no longer testify after the defense removed her from the witness list but the children's mother, Lonna Lauramore Barton, will testify during Friday's pretrial hearing, according to her attorney.
 
For more than two hours Thursday, attorneys on both sides argued whether the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office properly obtained information from Ebron's cellphone.
 
The defense filed a motion to suppress evidence from his phone, arguing that detectives did not properly inform Ebron that the evidence from the device could be used against him.
 
Public defender James Boyle showed a video in open court showing Ebron in the interview room with a JSO homicide detective, Sgt. Shawn Coarsey, on various occasions.
 
Coarsey was called to the stand and said Ebron gave them verbal consent to look through his phone.
 
According to Boyle, Ebron asked for his phone back several times but it wasn't given back to him; instead it was undergoing a full download.

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"The first question the court must answer is, 1. has the state met its burden in proving unequivocally that Mr. Ebron gave consent to search his phone?" said Boyle.
 
Boyle also took issue with the Sheriff's Office allegedly not using the word "search" when asking Ebron for his phone.
 
Coarsey maintained that Ebron willingly let them look through his phone and knew they were checking things like GPS information.
 
At one point during the video, Ebron told detectives his phone was dead and then handed them his charger.
 
State prosecutor Rich Mantei said Ebron never expressed that he didn't want police to look through his phone. After Ebron was arrested, Mantei said he even directed police to look through his phone for photos of the missing toddler that he had deleted.
 
"There was not only consent, there was consent upon consent upon consent both explicit and implicit. What there never once was, at any point in the months, was any objection by the defendant in any way, shape or form," said Mantei.
 
Boyle said had JSO officers returned Ebron's phone when he asked for it, they would've never been able to conduct a full download.
 
Coarsey said they never obtained a search warrant for the cellphone because Ebron gave them consent.
 
Using evidence from Ebron's cellphone is important to the state's case because it has text messages and GPS information from the night Lonzie disappeared.
 
The judge will rule on this motion and whether to allow the Williams Rule, which would permit evidence of Ebron's previous crimes, Friday at 2 p.m.

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