Facebook Status Update Gets Charges Against Man Dropped
Posted 11/12/09 at 01:30:35 PM by Paul Lilly
Ten years ago, the phrase "Where's my pancakes" wouldn't be nearly enough to get a robbery suspect off the hook. Even 6 years ago it wouldn't have worked. But that's only because Facebook was no where to be see. What are we talking about?
Rodney Bradford, a 19-year-old resident of the Farragut Houses, was arrested on October 18th for a robbery that took place the day before. His alibi? A status update on Facebook on October 17, at 11:49AM, from a computer in his father's apartment in Harlem, asking about his pancakes.
"This is the first case that I'm aware of in which a Facebook update has been used as alibi evidence," said John Browning, a lawyer and member of the Dallas Bar Association who studies social networking and the law. "We are going to see more of that because of how prevalent social networking has become."
The charges against Bradford where dropped when Facebook verified that the update, which occurred during the time of the robbery, originated from his dad's PC. Of course, this begs the question of how anyone can be sure that it was Bradford who typed message, and not someone else.
"This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil," said defense lawyer Robert Reuland, adding that the Facebook entry was just "icing on the cake" since Bradford had other alibis.
But what about in other cases? With Facebook for the first time being used as an alibi, we wouldn't be surprised to see this type of defense being employed more often, including by those who really are guilty.
Where do you see this headed? Post your thoughts in the comments section below!
Maybe you should finish
Submitted by Pillslanger on Fri, 11/13/2009 - 8:01am
Maybe you should finish reading the article Sjl1986, it states that prosecutors did question how easily that could have been faked. It was determined that the kid is not that malicious, and that it was not the cornerstone of the defense's case.
As far as MPC's question about whether or not Facebook will be used by prosecutors in a case, it already has. I don't remember where, but about a month ago a man was arrested for breaking and entering when it was determined that he checked his facebook status from the victim's computer and didn't log off the computer.
I read the entire article,
Submitted by sjl1986 on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 11:47am
I read the entire article, and since it ended with "Where do you see this headed? Post your thoughts in the comments section below!" That's what I did. My thoughts are, it's ridiculous and will be used by criminals to cover themselves far more often than a true innocent person would actually be able to use it as an alibi.
Not to mention "determining someone's malicious character" doesn't even make sense. How many times did they say "I know that guy so well, he's incapable of murder!", and yet he absolutely isn't.
My response is based on opinions and not facts.
Seriously?
Submitted by sjl1986 on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 2:01pm
It's ridiculous to even think that a Facebook update could possibly be a solid alibi. It's impossible to use the message alone to prove anyone's location or lack thereof. Anybody, anywhere could have my password and post whatever I asked them to. I could EASILY set up a macro that would run at whatever time I scheduled it to sign on to facebook as myself and write something in. If this trend takes, it will be used by guilty suspects 9 out of 10 times.
the new Chebacka defense?
Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 12:49pm
nuff said'
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