When Rodney Bradford, 19, from Brooklyn, N.Y., updated his Facebook status at 11:49 a.m. on Oct. 17, he had no idea that his seemingly trivial question, ‘WHERE MY IHOP?’would clear his name in a robbery.

Bradford posted the status from his father’s apartment in Harlem one minute before the robbery of two men in the Farragut Houses, where Bradford lives.

The victim identified Bradford as one of the robbers, and he spent twelve days in jail before his electronic fingerprint corroborated the stories of multiple witnesses who said that Bradford was in Harlem that day, according to an article published Nov. 11 in The New York Times.

Bradford’s case reflects a growing trend toward the use of social networking sites to obtain evidence in court cases. The Bradford case set a precedent that will most likely open doors for evidence from social networking Web sites in an increased number of cases, said John Browning, a Dallas lawyer, who studies social networking and its effects on the law.

‘Social networking sites are so prevalent today that it only makes sense to use them in court, whether they provide evidence for a murder case, a medical malpractice trial or a sexual harassment claim,’ he said. ‘Lurking out there in cyberspace may be key information on witnesses, potential jurors and even your own client.’

The U.S. Congress expanded the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 2006 to permit electronically stored information, like pages from social networking sites, to be used as evidence, according to the Federal Judiciary Web site.

‘Information from social networking sites can yield a digital treasure trove of information for lawyers,’ Browning said.

This information is especially valuable because people tend to implicate themselves on their social networking pages, he said, leaving little work for lawyers.

Jessica Binkerd, a 24-year-old from Santa Barbara, Calif., drove under the influence of alcohol in 2007 and crashed her car, killing the passenger. The prosecutor of the case found photos on Jessica’s MySpace page of her partying with friends and wearing alcohol-themed clothing. The photos convinced a judge that Binkerd showed no remorse for her actions and sentenced her to five years and four months in jail, according to an article written by Browning that was posted on the Dallas Bar Association Web site.

‘Evidence from social networking sites is being used in all kinds of cases. Few things undermine a sexual harassment plaintiff’s claims of innocence faster than revealing that the plaintiff has a MySpace page that looks like a ‘Girls Gone Wild’ video,’ Browning said.

People often use these sites as a way to create identities that they want to show their friends and peers, he said. People sometimes forget that the Internet is a public domain, open to lawyers, employers and others, he added.

Both Facebook and MySpace feature various privacy settings and controls, but studies have shown that a surprisingly high percentage of users are unfamiliar with the protection afforded by these settings. As a result, messages and photos intended for friends can wind up proving or discounting criminal charges, Browning said.

When information is public, lawyers are free to use any and all information they obtain, in court. But if the information is private, lawyers that obtain information through deception could make the evidence void in a case.

‘Misrepresenting who you are in order to become a ‘friend’ could lead you into sticky, unethical territory,’ Browning said.

The legal field may affect social networking, just as significantly as social networking is changing the legal field. As evidence procured from the Internet is used against individuals – whether in the courtroom or in a professional setting – Browning said people should exercise more caution in the pictures they post and thoughts they post on blogs.

‘Right now these sites are proving invaluable to lawyers and employers, but eventually people will catch on,’ Browning said. ‘If more information becomes private or is not posted at all, these great new methods we have of procuring evidence may be negated.’

ertocci@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm