The Case
Prosecutors at the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office in South Carolina were preparing for trial in a methamphetamine distribution case.
On December 19, 2024, investigators arranged for a confidential informant wearing concealed audio and video recording equipment to purchase methamphetamine from the defendant at a gas station in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
While the operation successfully documented the transaction, the video evidence was far from conclusive. At no point was the methamphetamine itself visible on the recording, leaving prosecutors with little more than cash changing hands and the defendant pointing toward something the jury could not see.
The Challenge
As the evidence stood, the controlled buy video evidence alone wasn't enough to make this an easy case.
Like many confidential informants, the informant had a lengthy criminal history and active charges with the Solicitor's Office. That made her credibility an obvious target for the defense and increased the need for additional evidence to support the prosecution's case.
With just 45 days before trial, prosecutors needed to move quickly and ensure all relevant evidence was surfaced and organized. One potential source of evidence was the defendant's jail calls. While awaiting trial, he had made more than 600 calls, totaling hundreds of hours of recorded conversations.
Jail calls are often one of the most valuable sources of evidence in a criminal case. They can reveal admissions, contradictions, coordination with others, and changes in a defendant's story over time.
But finding those moments meant investigators would have to listen to hundreds of hours of recordings, cross-reference conversations, and piece together information—a process that would take weeks, if not months.
The Solution
Instead of listening to hundreds of hours of audio, investigators used TimePilot to search the calls, quickly surface the most relevant conversations, and find the evidence they needed.
Within minutes, TimePilot identified multiple calls in which the defendant made admissions directly related to the case. For example, investigators uncovered conversations where the defendant discussed:
Selling drugs as his profession.
How he got into drug dealing.
That the money from selling drugs was "more addictive than any drug."
How drug dealers get caught when they become greedy and ignore warning signs.
Selling drugs to anyone with money, even when he suspected they could be an informant.
Selling drugs out of his vehicle.
The controlled buy at the center of the case, including a detailed account of how the transaction with the confidential informant took place.
These jail calls provided the context and admissions that the controlled buy video lacked, giving prosecutors far stronger evidence heading into trial. Using TimePilot, the team was ultimately able to process the three months of calls in just three days.
“We went from staring down weeks of nonstop jail call review to having everything we needed in just a few days. It completely changed how we approached the case. We weren’t digging anymore. We were building.”
— Logan McGarity, Investigator at Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office
The Outcome
With TimePilot, the prosecution team shifted from searching for information to actually understanding and applying it.
As they worked through the evidence, the platform helped surface 11 additional events that aligned directly with the case, strengthening the overall narrative and filling in key gaps.
Faced with a clearer and more complete picture of the evidence, the defendant ultimately accepted a guilty plea before trial.
“Needless to say, the strength of the case increased exponentially with TimePilot, and the defendant ended up pleading straight up right after we picked a jury, something that would not have happened without TimePilot.”
— Willam Anderson, Assistant Solicitor at Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office
