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Steven Avery & Brendan Dassey— Case Archive
personpersonCurtis ThomasCurtis ThomasFBI electronics engineer who examined burned phone, camera, and PDA components.← All People
WitnessFederal Bureau of Investigation

Curtis Thomas

FBI electronics engineer who examined burned phone, camera, and PDA components.

AppearedSteven Avery
MentionedBrendan Dassey
144 lines·6 proceedings·2 mentions·2 trials

About

FBI electronics engineer Curtis Thomas testified in Steven Avery's 2007 trial that comparison with exemplar devices identified burned fragments of a Motorola RAZR V3 phone, a Canon PowerShot A310 camera, and a Palm Zire 31 PDA. Those identifications did not establish what data the devices contained: he could not extract data from the phone, considered the camera materials too damaged to attempt electronic retrieval, and had not tried to retrieve data from the PDA's flash memory. On cross-examination, he acknowledged that the fragments had not been fitted back together and components were missing; the camera cards crumbled when handled, making testing potentially destructive. He later clarified that he had not determined whether missing pieces included metal. In Brendan Dassey's trial, Agent Kevin Heimerl discussed Thomas's laboratory report and attributed to him the identification of burned camera, phone, and PDA components recovered from a barrel outside Avery's residence.

Trial Record (6)

AverySteven AveryFeb 12, 2007 – Mar 18, 2007Called by prosecution

Curtis Thomas identified burned phone, camera, and PDA components for the prosecution in Steven Avery's 2007 trial, but could not recover their contents. Cross-examination focused on the incomplete fragments and the untested possibility of data on the PDA.

Day 14

DirectCurtis Thomas — DirectCurtis ThomasKenneth R. Kratz4highlights97lines spoken

Summary

FBI engineer Curtis Thomas identified burned phone, camera, and PDA components and explained why he could not recover data from the damaged materials.

Highlights (4)

testimony highlightThomas identifies components from approximately three devices in the burned-electronics submission: a Motorola RAZR phone, a Canon PowerShot camera, and a Palm Zire PDA.Open in transcript →
Quote“There are components from approximately three devices in here.”— Curtis ThomasIntroduces the scope of Thomas's device identifications without claiming that every fragment represented a separate device.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightThomas says he could not extract data from the burned phone. He says the camera materials appeared too damaged to attempt electronic-information retrieval and clarifies that several small fragments did not necessarily represent separate flash cards.Open in transcript →
Quote“As far as in this case, pretty much no effort was taken to retrieve electronic -- electronic information because, upon looking at it, it was obvious that everything was damaged too far to retrieve any such information.”— Curtis ThomasStates the limitation on attempted recovery of electronic information from the camera materials.Open in transcript →
CrossCurtis Thomas — CrossCurtis ThomasJerome F. Buting2highlights41lines spoken

Summary

Thomas explained why he did not test damaged camera cards and confirmed that he did not retrieve PDA data that might have held appointments.

Highlights (2)

testimony highlightUsing Exhibit 404, Buting established that Thomas had not fitted the electronic pieces back together and that some device components were missing.Open in transcript →
Quote“The condition that these cards were in precludes any sort of testing that we would have done, lest we completely destroyed this evidence. As you touch most of this stuff, it is crumbling apart.”— Curtis ThomasThomas gave his reason for not attempting to retrieve data from the damaged camera cards.Open in transcript →
RecrossCurtis Thomas — RecrossCurtis ThomasJerome F. Buting2highlights3lines spoken

Summary

Thomas could not say whether missing components included metal because he had not examined which pieces were absent.

Highlights (2)

testimony highlightThomas said he had not examined which pieces were missing and could not say whether missing pieces included metal.Open in transcript →
Quote“We did not perform that sort of examination so I'm not certain.”— Curtis ThomasThomas qualified what he could say about the missing pieces.Open in transcript →

Day 23

DasseyBrendan DasseyApr 16, 2007 – Apr 25, 2007

In Brendan Dassey's trial, Agent Kevin Heimerl relayed FBI examiner Curtis Thomas's identification of burned camera, phone, and PDA components.

Day 2