Social Media and the Law
Check out this very interesting article from Gary Craig in today’s paper on how social media is being used by both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Not to toot my own horn – oh nevermind, I’ll just toot it anyhow – I have been front and center in the use of social media on criminal cases since the days when MySpace was the dominant social networking site. A couple quick war stories:
Once I was working a murder case where the suspect had been on the run for the better part of a year. We kept tabs on his girlfriend’s MySpace page, and sure enough one day she posted a photo of her, him and their child – who was a toddler in the picture but an infant at the time of the murder. The photo was taken on the porch of his mother’s house and was clearly recent. A search warrant was obtained on this basis and the suspect was located hiding in the attic – with the TV on and his game of Madden on pause.
In another murder case, one of our main witnesses was refusing to cooperate and was likewise in hiding. Through his Facebook page, we created a fake profile of an, ahem, young lady and sent him a friend request. A few chat sessions and wall postings later, we conviced him to meet “the girl” at a motel. In the meantime we had secured a warrant for his arrest, and when he arrived at the motel he was apprehended. He went on to be a very good witness and very helpful and cooperative.
The point here is obvious – be very very careful about what you put out there on social media. And if you find yourself a suspect in a crime or under arrest, by all means do not talk about your case in any way shape or form on your Twitter feed or Facebook page. Nothing good can come of it.
Office Closed for Vacation
Please note that I am away on vacation from July 23rd to the 27th. The office is closed during this time. I will return on July 30th.
However, if you need emergency assistance during my time away please call the office number at 585-730-6280 and follow the instructions.
Check us out at Eagle Vale!
Check out the firm’s new sign at the par 3 5th hole at beautiful Eagle Vale Golf Club in Fairport!
A big thank you to Head PGA Professional Chris DeVincentis and Assistant Professional Jim Ryan for all of their help!
Lab Links
I thought it might be convenient to gather some of the recent material and reporting all in one place:
The IG’s report
Rachel Barnhart’s story last night on 13 featuring a witty and handsome local attorney (no, I don’t mean Parrinello):
The DA’s Office response today to that story
Gary Craig’s piece from today’s paper featuring the aforementioned daper attorney
Evan Dawson’s excellent piece with a personal take
Is the DA’s Office going to win the battle, but lose the war?
As just an aside, I took another look at the IG’s report today. This was the text of the letter that the lab director sent along with the samples returned to the police agencies:
“The Forensic Biology Section has retained evidence for possible DNA analysis from cases in which the statute of limitations has expired. In anticipation of our impending move to our new facility, we are issuing a ‘No Analysis’ report and the retained evidence will be returned to the submitting agency.
Should you consider the cases still active or feel that DNA analysis would provide additional information to other cases which are currently active (e.g. serial burglary), please feel to contact me or the DNA Technical Leader, Ellyn Colquhoun. We can then discuss and make arrangements for DNA analysis after we are established in the new facility.”
Is it me or is does that second paragraph put a bit of a different spin on things? You the reader can decide that on your own.
Turmoil at the Lab
By now just about everyone around town has heard of the recent developments at the Monroe County Crime Lab, where the lab’s director was initially placed on paid leave and then subsequently fired in the wake of a report from the State Inspector General’s Office criticizing certain practices at the lab.
I can’t think of a television show in the history of the medium has had a larger effect on the real world subject matter it is based on more than the CSI franchise. All three (is it only three?) of the shows are so popular and so widely viewed that it has become an accepted truism among the criminal practice bar that jurors are almost universally swayed by the “CSI effect,” meaning that jurors within the last 4 to 5 years have been conditioned by the shows to expect to be presented with forensic scientific evidence, such as DNA, in every case. Furthermore jurors are more likely to expect that the scientific evidence will present them with a definitive answer as to what actually happened in the case they are evaluating.
Actually I think the “CSI effect” is more subconscious than anything. Reasonable people, when asked, are universally going to tell an attorney during jury selection that they realize that CSI is just a television show and not necessarily reflective of real-world forensics, police practices and/or legal procedure. However – and I have seen it happen – jurors will sometimes emerge from the deliberation room following the verdict and ask of, or state to, the judge that their conclusions were based on unrealistic expectations of the meaning or value of the forensics (or lack thereof). That’s the “CSI Effect” in action.
Which brings us back to our lab here in Monroe County. Even that is a bit of a misnomer, to call it the Monroe County Crime Lab, when it actually also serves all of the surrounding counties as well. As a criminal lawyer, whether a prosecutor or defense attorney, I depend on that lab to produce accurate, reliable and understandable results on any case that I handle. However, I am just one lawyer among many in this area. My cases are only a few of the thousands and thousands that are processed through our local criminal courts each year. And everybody – including the personnel at the lab – understands that juries want, if not require, results on the evidence the lab analyzes. Add that volume of cases and the demands from prosecutors, defense lawyers, police and others and you can begin to understand how close to impossible it might be for our lab to be completely caught up on all the testing it is asked to do.
Now, I don’t work at the lab. I haven’t worked at the DA’s Office in seven months or so. I don’t know everything about what went on with our former lab director, so I am in no position to pass judgment on her job performance. What I can say, however, is that I am sympathetic to the dynamics of her job, which was not an easy one by any means.
I understand that John Clark has been named as interim director. He works at the lab as the director of the firearms section. I have the utmost respect for John. You will not find a more professional and competent person in his field, and I am sure he will do an outstanding job in his new role.
This has been an interesting situation to watch unfold, and I get the feeling we don’t have the full story yet. Because these developments directly affect my clients, you can be sure I will be watching closely.