Judge allows text messages as evidence

LEWISTON – A judge in North Idaho has reversed his decision to bar prosecutors from using cell phone text messages as evidence in a Nez Perce County murder trial.

Leotis B. Branigh III, 32, of Clarkston, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the shooting death of 32-year-old Michael S. Johnston in Lewiston last year.

Last week, Idaho 2nd District Judge Jeff M. Brudie ruled that jurors wouldn’t be allowed to see text messages Branigh sent to Johnston shortly before the shooting because an improper police warrant was used to obtain the cell phone records.

Defense attorney Charles Kovis argued that Lewiston police obtained the records with an improper warrant to search Sprint Nextel Corp. offices outside the state.

The warrant was not only served to search an office outside the 2nd Judicial District, Kovis said, it also included the wrong state. Police obtained the warrant to search a Sprint Nextel office in Overland Park, Texas, while the cell phone records were found in Overland Park, Kan.

The judge reversed his earlier ruling on Friday after Prosecutor Dan Spickler cited a federal law allowing police to serve search warrants outside the state.

The jury will be able to review the cell phone records when the trial continues on Monday.

Prosecutors say Branigh sent numerous text messages to Johnston and his ex-wife, Desiree Anderson, in the days prior to the Oct. 1, 2007, shooting.