Officers found 31-year-old Nicole Vanderheyden dead in a Bellevue field last year. The fate of the man accused of her murder may hang on whether or not the court allows evidence from her ex-boyfriend's Fitbit to be allowed in trial.
39-year-old George Burch is in court accused of killing Vanderheyden.
Burch's defense team says it wasn't him. Instead, it was her ex-boyfriend, Douglass Detrie.
Prosecutors say evidence from Detrie's Fitbit will contradict that, but the defense argues evidence from the smart watch shouldn't be admissible.
“There are multiple pending civil lawsuits claiming that Fitbit is not reliable for a variety of reasons, so in essence the defense doesn't think the data is reliable and we don't think that's something the jury should hear,” said Lee Schuchart, defense attorney.
Also up for debate in court were the findings of the coroner.
The state's medical examiner says the victim had injuries consistent with sexual assault. That's something the defense disputes, saying they'll call their own medical examiner during the trial.
“I'm not saying that they absolutely have to be, but there is evidence of sexual contact, or there's evidence of contact, between a blunt object, and it could be a person or it could be a thing," said Dr. Angiezska Roalska. deputy chief medical examiner for Dane County.
Burch has one more hearing, before his trial begins in February.
