District Attorney Greg Edwards is appealing a trial court ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court

ALBANY — Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards is appealing to the Georgia Supreme Court a recent ruling in the Jamey Spurlock murder trial in which cell phone evidence the state planned to use would be excluded.

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

At issue is a cellphone belonging to Richard Corley, which was stolen from the crime scene where Spurlock and Corley were assaulted and Spurlock was shot and killed.

According to court documents, on Dec. 22, 2013, Spurlock and his friend Richard Corley were reportedly assaulted by four men — Demonta Montrell Price, Demetrice Lugene Price Jr., Anthony Bernard Jackson and Fredrico Raymon Kennedy — after having car trouble along Silica Drive in Albany.

“The state hopes to prove at trial that on Dec. 22, 2013, Corley was driving his 1989 Honda Accord, accompanied by Spurlock, when he lost control of the car and they became stuck in an embankment on Silica Drive, a dirt road in Albany, Ga.,” court documents state. “Corley was lying on his back, partially under the car, and had started working on it. He asked Spurlock to light a cigarette for him, and as Spurlock was getting the cigarette from the driver’s side door, a man holding a gun approached and shot Spurlock in the back.

“Another armed man approached Corley, and while standing over Corley, pointing a gun at him, demanded he hand over his belongings. Corley gave his wallet and his white Samsung Galaxy S2 cellphone, which was enclosed in a black otter box.”

Reports indicate that a cellphone matching the description of Corley’s was found in the possession of Laquacious Taylor, who lives near the crime scene. Taylor told police that Kennedy and Jackson had given her the cellphone on the night of Dec. 22 when they came to her home shortly after the time of the murder.

Taylor also told police that she overheard the two men discussing the murder and mentioning that Kavorius Price had shot a man before they gave her the cell phone for disposal. Taylor reported to police that a picture of a white male and white female (Corley and his wife) were on the phone.

According to Edwards, the state planned to use the cellphone evidence at trial, but the court, after Jackson’s attorney filed a motion requesting that either the indictment be dismissed or the cellphone evidence be excluded, ruled to exclude the cellphone evidence.

“The issue of the appeal is the exclusion of evidence which the state believes is admissible,” Edwards said. “The allegation was that the police improperly handled the evidence and its retention, and that the defense didn’t have an opportunity to examine and utilize the evidence. The state feels this is evidence that definitely should not be excluded.”

According to court documents, the reasons for the trial court’s decision included that “police deliberately chose not to follow the department’s rule for handling chain of custody documentation with regard to the cellphone and police deliberately disregarded a court order to meet with defense counsel to allow examination of the cellphone.”

Edwards said that is not the case and argued, “The exclusion of the pertinent cellphone evidence in this matter is a clear abuse of discretion by the trial court.

“The court’s order effectively strips the state of its duty and ability to introduce evidence that helps prove its case. The order restricting the state from using the cellphone evidence is too broad, demonstrates judicial bias and should be overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court.”

According to Edwards, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the matter next week.