An Arkansas man accused of first-degree murder has agreed to give prosecutors access to audio recorded by his Amazon Echo, a microphone-embedded smart-speaker that may have potentially captured a killing in progress.
James Andrew Bates dropped his opposition last week to a subpoena that would give state prosecutors possession of any and all data captured by an Amazon Echo discovered within earshot of where authorities found the body of Victor Collins in 2015, according to court filings entered in Benton County Circuit Court on Monday.
Collins had been watching football at Mr. Bates’ residence in Bentonville prior to being discovered dead in a nearby hot tub on November 22, 2015.
Authorities subsequently charged Mr. Bates with murdering of his former friend, and for months have attempted to obtain audio recordings or any other potential evidence logged by his internet-connected Amazon device.
“The Amazon Echo device is constantly listening for the ’wake’ command of ’Alexa’ or ’Amazon,’ and records any command, inquiry or verbal gesture given after that point, or possibly at all times without the ’wake word’ being issued, which is uploaded to Amazon.com’s servers at a remote location. It is believed that these records are retained by Amazon.com and that they are evidence related to the case under investigation,” according to an affidavit filed last year in support of the subpoena.
Amazon and Mr. Bates’ attorneys previously argued that the subpoena sought to illegally obtain information protected by the defendant’s First Amendment right to free speech in addition to violating the company’s pledge to protect its customers’ privacy. They changed course Friday, however, and prosecutors have since been given access to data captured by the device, according to recent court filings.
“On March 3, 2017, the defendant, through counsel, consented to Amazon’s disclosure to the State of any such recordings. Later on March 3, Amazon made the disclosure to the State, pursuant to the defendant’s counsel,” Circuit Judge Brad Karren wrote in a consent order Monday.
“Because Mr. Bates is innocent of all charges in this matter, he has agreed to the release of any recordings on his Amazon Echo device to the prosecution,” his attorneys said in a separate filing.
Prosecutors had specifically sought audio recordings or related transcripts related to any activity that occurred within a 48-hour period surrounding Collins’ death and captured by the Echo.
“Such government demands inevitably chill users from exercising their First Amendment rights to seek and receive information and expressive content in the privacy of their own home, conduct which lies at the core of the Constitution,” Amazon argued previously.
Mr. Bates previously pleaded not guilty to Collins’ murder and has been free on bond pending trial. A judge was expected to hear Wednesday afternoon whether his Echo captured any data pertinent to the prosecutors’ case.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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