LISBON A legal dispute over key cell phone evidence in the trial of a man accused of murdering his wife is scheduled to be heard today by a judge in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court. William Long Jr. is accused of fatally shooting his former wife, Leetonia High School teacher Michelle Long, in November 2023 outside her Butler Township home.

The central issue is whether a preliminary hearing is required to test the reliability of a mapping tool called Trax, which police used to track Long's location.

Prosecutors intend to use location maps generated by the Trax software to argue that Long was near the scene of the incident on Carey Road around the time of the shooting. The software takes raw cell phone data and converts it into visual maps, including shaded "coverage areas" or "hand

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