On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 14:52:39 GMT, Gerald Sylvester
wrote:

I never read anything about this Scott Petersen murder
trial before. I saw a headline about a "GPS." I started
to read it and I guess the guys car had a GPS in it
and the prosecution is trying to place him at the murder
scene. Well the defense attorney is saying the GPS
is inaccurate due to a malfunction and made the
moronic comment of:
-------------
Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, argued that the information gathered
through global positioning system technology was not accurate. GPS uses
signals from dozens of satellites to show a receiver's position to
within a few feet.

"If the FAA will not approve GPS for the landing of an aircraft, how can
a court of law approve its forensic use in a capital case?" he said.
--------------

Since the original report, there has been a second news release after the
defense got the actual records from the prosecution. In several instances, the
GPS readings had Peterson's truck at two different locations hundreds of miles
apart in 6 or 7 minutes, at an equivalent ground speed of something like 260
mph. The errors occurred often enough that the defense thought they ought to
challenge all of the GPS data. Another problem was the GPS transmitted
constantly to the police through cell phone connections which may have distorted
the data.

All the proceeding comments were taken from TV media reports, so take their
accuracy with a grain of salt.

Ron