FBI: Cell data places Bridgeport man at Norwalk murder scene
STAMFORD — Cellphone data placed Hakeem Atkinson in the area at the time a 20-year-old Norwalk man was shot and killed in 2012, according to an FBI agent.
Special agent James J. Wines testified on Thursday during Atkinson’s trial for murder, describing an analysis of historical cell site information that revealed that Atkinson’s phone was roughly in the area of the Avalon Norwalk apartment buildings, now known as The Confluence at Norwalk, on Feb. 3, 2012 around the time 20-year-old Joseph “Jabs” Bateman of Norwalk was killed.
Based on phone records, Wines was able to roughly trace Atkinson’s movements in the hour leading up to the fatal shooting, he told the jury.
The data showed Atkinson driving from Bridgeport, where he lived at the time, down Interstate-95 and arriving in Norwalk just south of the Avalon apartments in the minutes before Bateman was shot, according to Wines.
“Based upon your training, experience and your review of the records provided to you, are the phone records for (Atkinson’s phone) consistent with that telephone having been at or in the area of the Avalon complex on Belden Avenue in Norwalk at 5:28 p.m. on the date of this incident?” asked Senior Assistant State’s Attorney David Applegate.
“Yes,” Wines said. On cross-examination, Atkinson’s attorney John Gulash drilled into the accuracy of Wines’s analysis. Standing near the jury, Gulash emphasized that historical cell site data can show the “approximate area” of where a cellphone could be located.
“What you just told us is that you can say you’re sure that that phone would have been in contact with a tower that is in the vicinity of where a homicide occurred. You are not saying that that phone was at that particular location at that particular time, that that phone was in the area of that cell tower,” Gulash said.
“No, what I’m saying is that that phone had to be in that coverage area of that sector at that time, but I am not able to determine exactly where in the sector that phone was,” Wines replied.
After Wines testified, Norwalk police Sgt. Ryan Evarts took the stand to discuss his role in investigating the homicide.
According to his arrest affidavit, Atkinson, now 26, was 16 years old when Bateman was shot to death in what police said they believed was a retaliation killing during ongoing violence among rival gangs.
Evarts, who was the lead detective in the case, shared excerpts from private messages between Atkinson and a second person on Facebook 11 days after the shooting.
“But okay, Hakeem, enough of this because all you’re going to end up doing is killing each other and then everybody gonna be dead,” read the message to Atkinson.
Atkinson then responds, “If that’s how it gotta end then I guess that’s what it is. They don’t want to stop, we not either. That’s all.”
The testimony from the trial, which resumed Tuesday after a break, included earlier eyewitness testimony that identified Atkinson as the man seen fleeing the scene in the moments following the fatal shooting.
The murder trial is expected to continue Monday with more witness testimony.
If convicted of murder, Atkinson faces a minimum of 25 years in prison, plus an extra five years for a firearms sentence enhancement, which the state is seeking in the case.