an expert is needed to interpret cell phone records with the goal of being able to place the user of the cell phone near, or at least somewhat in the vicinity of, a specific geographical location.

My investigator may be a place to start--he does this quite a bit with a program on his computer. I believe that it requires a subpoena for the correct "codes" though. E-mail me at suzanne.jost@co.kendall.tx.us and I'll get you in touch with him.

Your friendly, local Texas Ranger should be able to assist you with that. You'll need a subpoena to get the info but it is readily available, and the company can ID the locale of the applicable tower for you. Some of the carriers have very adept security departments that assist LE with just these issues.

I have always had good experiences with ATT personnel, and I wonder now that they own cingular whether that same excellent service will apply to cingular.

You will need two sets of records from the cellulary provider. You will need the call records from your defendant's phone with corresponding cell towers. You will also need the list of cell towers in the area. We called a professor from UT-Austin to testify about the basics of cell phone technology and state that if the records showed a call was placed through a specific tower at a specific time, that the user of that phone had to be within the physical area of the tower.