Judge weighs legality of warrant used to search teens’ phones in crime spree [Video]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Lawyers for two teens charged with murdering an Austin-East High School student as he left for the day in 2021 are trying to suppress cellphone data taken from the defendants’ phones.

Ashlee Mathis and Hoai Robinette argue Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword had already tossed one search warrant issued two years ago as police bore down on suspects Deondre Davis, then 16, and Rashan Jordan, then 14, in the killing of Stanley Freeman Jr.

Police took what they learned from that illegal warrant and further developed their case against the juvenile pair, the lawyers argue.

The second, or new, warrant that police secured early this year is poisoned and invalid as a result, they argue.

Davis, Jordan and the attorneys appeared Monday in court before Sword ahead of their …