New Hampshire’s highest court has thrown out the warrantless phone search that helped police find Logan Clegg after the 2022 killings of Stephen and Djeswende “Wendy” Reid, ruling it unconstitutional and sending the case back to the trial court for a hard second look. That move puts a cloud over evidence that flowed from the phone-location request used to track Clegg to Vermont and could ultimately reshape his convictions.
According to NBC Boston, the court wrote that “there was not an objective basis to believe a delay of a few hours would risk the defendant's evading apprehension,” noting that about five months had passed between the killings and the phone search. The justices also pointed out that Clegg’s flight was not scheduled to depart for another 56 hours and questioned Concord police for using Verizon’s emergency-circumstances hotline to pull his location data without a warrant. The Supreme Court ordered the trial court to conduct further proceedings, with the appeal kept on hold and findings due back to the justices by June 15, 2026.
Trail Killings, Conviction and Sentence
The Reids were found shot to death on a Concord trail in April 2022, a crime that rattled the city and eventually led prosecutors to Clegg. A jury convicted him in October 2023, and he was sentenced to consecutive 50-year-to-life terms, a minimum of 100 years behind bars for the double homicide, as reported by The Boston Globe. Defense attorneys have long argued that key evidence recovered after the phone ping, including a gun and other items seized when he was arrested, is tainted because it stems from an unlawful search.
How Police Say They Tracked Him Down
Court records and local reporting show that Concord detectives used a phone number tied to Clegg’s flight reservation and went to Verizon through the carrier’s exigency channel to request his location, historical cell-site data and RTT data, according to InDepthNH. Prosecutors told judges they believed a warrant could take days and said they needed immediate data to prevent Clegg from fleeing or posing a danger to the public. The defense countered that months had passed since the murders, there was time to seek a warrant, and the emergency path was a constitutional shortcut. That clash over what truly counts as “exigent” and the officers’ use of Verizon’s emergency protocol sits at the heart of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
What Is On The Line Now
Legal analysts say that if the evidence tied to the phone ping is ultimately suppressed, prosecutors may have to rework their case from the ground up, potentially setting the stage for a new trial or other remedies. Those stakes were front and center during the appeal hearing, as courtroom coverage and experts noted in proceedings reported by WMUR. The opinion leans heavily on New Hampshire’s constitution and tightens the scenarios in which a true emergency can excuse police from getting a warrant before searching phone data. The state Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the decision and “will take appropriate action,” according to NBC Boston.
For now, the trial court has marching orders to follow the Supreme Court’s instructions and issue findings by June 15, 2026, while the appeal stays frozen in place. Beyond Clegg’s fate, the ruling is already fueling a wider regional debate over how far police can go in using carrier exigency lines and real-time phone location requests in major investigations.
