Miller v. State, 2009 WL 3517627 (Ind. App. October 30, 2009) Appellant Miller and his dad robbed Wedge’s Liquor Store in Logansport, Indiana back in November 2007. During the robbery Miller pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at the clerk’s face. During closing argument at trial, the prosecutor showed the jury a video from [...]
Archive for the ‘Evidence’ Category
Robbery conviction overturned because prosecutor played YouTube video during closing argument
November 4th, 2009
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Web photos inadmissible as evidence in case against deer hunter
October 16th, 2009
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State v. Ness, — N.W.2d —-, 2009 WL 3296676 (N.D. Oct. 15, 2009) Another day, another state supreme court decision about whether web-found evidence is admissible. Yesterday our discussion was about a MySpace posting in a murder trial. (The evidence in that case was admissible.) Today it’s about pictures from the Internet in a case [...]
MySpace posting was not improper character evidence at murder trial
October 15th, 2009
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Clark v. State, No. 43S00-0810-CR-575 (Ind. October 15, 2009). [Download the opinion] Defendant Clark killed his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter. At his murder trial, the prosecution introduced the following post Clark had made to his MySpace page: Society labels me as an outlaw and criminal and sees more and more everyday how many of the people, [...]
MySpace drinkin’ photos causing real life problems again
September 21st, 2009
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Last time it was probation being revoked. This time it’s children being taken away. A recent Texas case shows how irresponsible social media use can have some unpleasant consequences. Mann v. Department of Family and Protective Services, 2009 WL 2961396 (Tex. App. September 17, 2009) Appellant had her baby taken away by state protective services. [...]
Conviction for sending intimidating MySpace message overturned
August 12th, 2009
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Marshall v. State, 2009 WL 2243467 (Ind. App. July 28, 2009) Gotta love the facts of this case from my home state of Indiana. Marshall and Goodman traded cars with one another, but that deal went sour. Marshall then got into an altercation with Goodman’s mother (named Lee) and Marshall was arrested. She was also [...]
Slamming Wikipedia’s reliability not enough in immigration case
September 2nd, 2008
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Badasa v. Mukasey, — F.3d —, 2008 WL 3981817 (8th Cir. Aug. 29, 2008) Illegal alien Badasa sought asylum in the United States. To establish her identity, she submitted to the Immigration Judge a “laissez-passer” issued by the Ethiopian government. Opposing the application for asylum, the Department of Homeland Security submitted a number of items, [...]
Company’s own website provided evidence of claimed trademark’s genericness
June 25th, 2008
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Boston Duck Tours LP v. Super Duck Tours LLC, —F.3d—, 2008 WL 2444480 (1st Cir. June 18, 2008) Boston Duck Tours has been providing tours of Boston in amphibian vehicles (called “ducks” but spelled DUKWs) since 1993. After a competitor moved into town in 2007 calling itself Super Duck Tours, Boston Duck Tours filed suit [...]
Emails held sufficient to amend employment contracts in NY
April 26th, 2008
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[Brian Beckham is a contributor to Internet Cases and can be contacted at brian.beckham [at] gmail dot com.] The New York Court of Appeals, 1st Division recently upheld a lower court ruling that a series of “signed” emails is a sufficient writing to modify a contract. Plaintiff Stevens sold his business (L-S) to Defendant Publicis [...]
Parties must use neutral forensics examiner in file-sharing case
October 27th, 2006
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Case highlights important privacy interests in electronic discovery dispute. From Ray Beckerman, we learn of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas’s decision on a motion to compel discovery filed by the recording industry against an accused file-sharer. While the defendant will have to submit her hard drive for forensic examination to [...]
