05-04-2009, 04:03 PM
A March 11, 2009 New York Times article, reports that the trial in the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn of a man accused of carrying a loaded gun rested on the credibility of an arresting officer who was subject to cross-examination based upon the content of his Facebook page on the internet. The officer had listed his mood one day as [quote] devious [unquote] and posted a status on his Facebook page that he was watching the movie Training Day in order [quote] to brush up on proper police procedure [unquote].
While the officer's posted comment that the movie Training Day was a good lesson in police procedure was a joke, it did not play out that way in front of the jury. The defense attorney was able to use the officer's public postings to paint a picture of an overly aggressive officer willing to bend the rules. It was a simple gun case in which the defense was that the officer planted the gun. Because the arresting officer's credibility was successfully impeached using this information from his Facebook page, the defendant was acquitted in what should have been a simple one-day trial leading to a quick guilty verdict.
While the officer's posted comment that the movie Training Day was a good lesson in police procedure was a joke, it did not play out that way in front of the jury. The defense attorney was able to use the officer's public postings to paint a picture of an overly aggressive officer willing to bend the rules. It was a simple gun case in which the defense was that the officer planted the gun. Because the arresting officer's credibility was successfully impeached using this information from his Facebook page, the defendant was acquitted in what should have been a simple one-day trial leading to a quick guilty verdict.