Arkansas Murder Case Tied To Amazon Echo Dismissed

BENTONVILLE, AR — A murder case that featured Amazon Echo data — retrieved even after initial objections from the online retailer — has stalled because of ambiguous evidence.

An Arkansas judge dismissed the a first-degree murder charge this week. Television station KHOG reports that the prosecutors requested the dismissal of the charge against James Andrew Bates on Wednesday.

Bates was charged in the November 2015 death of Victor Collins, whose body was found in a hot tub at Bates' home. Prosecutors say they requested the dismissal because the evidence supports more than one reasonable explanation.

The investigation involved recordings from an Amazon Echo smart speaker in Bates' home. The Echo "listens" for key words and may have recorded what happened before Collins died.

Amazon fought a subpoena, citing customers' privacy rights, but relented after Bates said he didn't mind if the technology giant shared the information.

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