Here’s another example of social-networking sites used as evidence in criminal proceedings. In an armed-robbery trial, federal prosecutors offered the defendant’s MySpace page as evidence. The site showed that the defendant called himself “Trigga FullyLoaded” and displayed a picture of him in the driver’s seat of a car with his left arm hanging out of the open window, holding a handgun. The defendant was convicted on 15 counts and sentenced to 167 years in prison. On appeal, the defendant’s counsel argued that there was no certain way to trace the MySpace page to the defendant. The 11th Circuit upheld the conviction but found that the admission of the site was in error.
United States v. Phaknikone, No. 09-10084 (11th Cir. May 10, 2010)
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“On appeal, the defendant’s counsel argued that there was no certain way to trace the MySpace page to the defendant.”
Wait a minute! His *picture* was on the MySpace page? Is there some kind of “chain of custody” foundation for admission of a MySpace page? Hmmmm… Harmless error or not, putting that kind “information” out to the world should get you convicted of “felony dumb-ass.”