HOT TUB MURDER & THE AMAZON ECHO, will play out in Arkansas trial.

Amazon refuses to give police the voice data from an Echo owned by a man charged with murder
 by - Eugene Kim 


James Cook/BI
Amazon is declining to hand over the audio records transmitted through an Echo device that belongs to a man charged with murder, despite a search warrant from police investigating the case.
According to The Information's Tom Dotan and Reed Albergotti, the Echo device in question was owned by James Andrew Bates, a Bentonville, Arkansas, resident charged with first-degree murder earlier this year.
A man was found dead in a hot tub at Bates' home last year, and the police believe additional evidence for the case could be found in the Echo device.
The report says Amazon refused to hand over the audio data on two separate occasions, although Amazon did share Bates' account information and purchase history. The police were able to take some information out of the device, but it's unclear what that included.
This is likely the first murder case involving a search warrant for the Echo, Amazon's smash-hit voice-controlled device. The Echo is able to record only when it's activated by a wake word, like "Alexa," but it's capable of playing music, reading the news, or making certain types of orders with a user's voice commands. There's also a chance that the device could have been triggered accidentally, causing it to record a snippet of conversation that could be of use in the case.
Amazon sent Business Insider the following statement in response to this story:
"Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course."
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-refuses-to-give-police-echo-voice-data-in-murder-case-2016-12 

Bentonville man arrested in connection with November death

By Staff Report
Posted: February 23, 2016 at 9:23 a.m.
Updated: February 23, 2016 at 1:41 p.m
A Bentonville man was arrested on a first-degree murder charge Monday night, according to police.


James Andrew Bates, 34, of 3502 S.W. Elm Manor Ave. in Bentonville, was arrested Monday and was being held in the Benton County Jail in connection with first-degree murder, according to jail records.
Victor Parris Collins, 47, was found dead in a hot tub at Bates' address on Nov. 22, according to a police news release.
Bates told police he, Collins and other friends had been watching sports and he had gone to bed, according to a police news release.
The body was sent to the Arkansas State Crime lab and ruled a homicide Nov. 24. Police searched Bates' home the following day, according to a police news release.
The news release does not provide further details about the evidence police believe links Bates to Collins' death.
A police investigation documented injuries to Collins, and later Bates, consistent with a struggle, according to a probable cause affidavit for Bates' arrest.
The dead man had a black eye and bruising to his face when police and medics arrived to find him floating in the hot tub at Bates' residence on the morning of Nov. 22, according to the affidavit. The area around the hot tub appeared to have been sprayed down with water.
Officers photographed Bates' injures on Nov. 30, according to the affidavit.
Bates, Collins and two other men had watched football on Nov. 21 before retiring to the hot tub.
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/feb/23/bentonville-man-arrested-connection-november-death/

What’s particularly interesting about the case is that the Amazon Echo wasn’t the only Internet of Things device Bates had in his home. The report adds that Bates’ connected water meter revealed that upwards of 140 gallons of water were used on the night that the victim, one Victor Collins, was murdered and found dead in Bates’ hot tub. Police naturally believe that this points to Bates’ effort to clear up and wash away any evidence of the crime. Of particular interest is that detectives managed to find out that Bates’ level of water usage on the night of the crime had only been reached once before, back in 2013.
5Newsonline adds:

Detectives observed the rim of the hot tub and the patio had been sprayed down with water and two hot tub head cushions and three hot tub knobs were lying on the ground nearby, the affidavit states. One of the head cushions appeared to have diluted blood spots on it, according to the affidavit. Investigators also found watered down blood spots on the sides of the hot tub and another large area of blood spatter on the hot tub cover, the affidavit states.

Bates’ attorney argues that individuals have a right to privacy in their own home and that there is a “big problem that law enforcement can use the technology that advances our quality of life against us.”
While not exactly similar to Apple’s legal tussle with the FBI, this case raises a number of interesting issues concerning the growing popularity of IoT devices and the degree to which tech companies will take measures to protect sensitive user information.
http://bgr.com/2016/12/27/amazon-echo-murder-investigation-james-bates/

We'll have yet another internet tool for humans to access our homes via a little plastic thing sitting so idly - just waiting for a command to tape or respond!  More advanced than those lovely little baby monitors that have been hacked and people can speak/see/hear right into your nursery room.

Bates’ attorney argues that individuals have a right to privacy in their own home and that there is a “big problem that law enforcement can use the technology that advances our quality of life against us.”

So my way of thinking about our electronic gadgets is ...how is that 'ECHO' any different than say an interior security device?  There have many a murder solved by reviewing those tapes; both interior & exterior filmed footage

eddie wrote:If there's a private gadget inside a house that can solve a crime / murder, it should absolutely be used.

Well it is Mr. Bates legal team jobs to stall - leave no stone unturned - however far fitched, try to test the law!  I don't think they have a 'LEG' to stand on but Quill will set me right if my thinking is off track!

4EVER2 wrote:

eddie wrote:If there's a private gadget inside a house that can solve a crime / murder, it should absolutely be used.

Well it is Mr. Bates legal team jobs to stall - leave no stone unturned - however far fitched, try to test the law!  I don't think they have a 'LEG' to stand on but Quill will set me right if my thinking is off track!

eddie wrote:

4EVER2 wrote:
Well it is Mr. Bates legal team jobs to stall - leave no stone unturned - however far fitched, try to test the law!  I don't think they have a 'LEG' to stand on but Quill will set me right if my thinking is off track!

Well I'm not a law expert so perhaps Quill will put us both wrong, but morally, if there is something that can prove your guilt (or indeed, innocence) then I cannot see any reason not to use it?

The water usage in this case is a pretty big giveaway....!