Busted By the Feds, um Because You're On Facebook, Idiot!

Andrew Wolfson at the Louisville Courier-Journal has a witty discussion of the (Darwin Award-worthy candidates and) criminal defendants who find themselves in hot water over their Facebook postings.  Here's an excerpt from Wolfson's excellent article:

If you don't want to do the time, stay offline. Or at the very least, don't “friend” your probation officer.

Convicted of possessing methamphetamine and Ecstasy, Scott W. Roby learned that the hard way. The Louisville man had his probation revoked this month — and was sentenced to two years in prison — in part for violating conditions that required him to stay alcohol-free and out of bars and liquor stores.

Annals of Social Media Fails: Juror Sanctioned for Emailing Trial Details Causing Mistrial

This guy (pic) Daniel Matz emailed details of a trial he was sitting on, causing a mistrial. 

Now he's going to pay a $1,000 fine or go to jail for 30 days.  Seems fair.  This is from Thomas Zambito's story at the NY Daily News:

The email-happy Queens juror whose mid-trial musings forced a mistrial in a rape case was socked with a $1,000 fine Wednesday.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter levied the fine after juror Daniel Matz pleaded guilty to a criminal contempt charge for dashing off an email to a Bronx prosecutor friend with details from jury deliberations.

Matz, 45, will be locked up for 30 days if he doesn't pay. Buchter estimated he cost the state "tens of thousands of dollars" in lost time.

"There was a tremendous amount of damage done to a number of people," Buchter told Matz. "I think you learned your lesson and I'm going to hit you in the pocketbook because I can't countenance what you did."

Matz apologized to defendant Jose Fernandez as well as the alleged rape victim who will have to take the stand again when Fernandez goes on trial in September for raping the mother of six in 2009.
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This social networking debacle occurred on day 3 deliberations.  Excellent.

Annals of Social Networking: Don't Be Braggin' About How You're Kickin' It When On Home Confinement

Brent Lamar Davis struck and killed a Charleston, WV motorcyclist last year.  While on home confinement awaiting sentencing, Mr. Davis, (pic) was providing details on exactly how he does his thing.  The victim's family as you might imagine have been keeping a close eye on Mr. Davis and turned the gangsta's posts over to the court.  Here's Cheryl Caswell's story for the Charleston Daily Mail:

"A man who pleaded guilty Monday to hitting a motorcyclist last fall, killing him, has now been arrested and incarcerated for drinking and using drugs while on home confinement.   Brent Lamar Davis, 25, of Charleston was put in South Central Regional Jail the day after his court hearing, after prosecutors received a tip from the victim's family that Davis had referred to those disallowed behaviors on Facebook.

Assistant Prosecutor Dan Holstein said Davis will now remain behind bars until his sentencing in June, and he intends to recommend a prison sentence. He faces a possible two to 10 years for driving under the influence causing death.

Michael Frame, 60, of St. Albans was killed in that accident last Labor Day weekend. Davis, driving a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria on MacCorkle Avenue, struck Frame on his motorcycle at the Montrose Drive intersection. He then abandoned his car and fled the scene. 

The rules of the county home confinement program prohibit the possession or use of controlled substances, narcotics, alcohol and drug paraphernalia.

Frame's daughter, Anita Henson of South Carolina, attended Davis' plea hearing Monday and said afterward she wasn't happy the man was permitted to be on home confinement and feared he could still be using alcohol. When alerted to the Facebook posts, Holstein requested officials investigate and Davis admitted to the drug and alcohol use. In fact, he said he smoked ten joints of marijuana and drank tequila the day before his hearing.

Davis accepted a plea deal from prosecutors, who agreed to drop a charge of leaving the scene of the accident.   In October, Hurricane resident David Michael Haning posted property in Poca assessed at nearly $77,500 for Davis' bond. He was released, but ordered to be on home confinement at his West Side house at 1730 Kemp Ave.    Davis at first said he went to the Liquor Mart on Patrick Street to buy the alcohol, which would also have been a violation of home confinement rules. He later changed that story and said a friend brought the alcohol to him.

Harry Carpenter, chief of the home confinement program, sent a letter to Holstein, saying, 'It is my request that prosecutors request that Mr. Davis' bond be revoked. Due to the serious nature of the crime to which he pled, and the fact that he admits to using not only alcohol but illegal substances, add this to his Facebook postings and it seems that Mr. Davis not only shows no remorse, but clearly does not take the authority of the court and this program seriously.'

Upon a motion from Holstein, Kanawha Circuit Court Judge James Stucky revoked that bond and ordered Davis' incarceration immediately.

Court documents include Davis' Facebook posting within the past week, including:

'Getting ready to go to court hope for the best,' 'On some sh—,' 'Drinkin the pain away lets get it,'  'Getting ready to do this 2-10' and 'Livin life to the fullest.'  Also found on his Facebook page, Holstein said, was a photograph of a hand holding a glass with what appeared to be liquor in it.

Holstein said, 'I was going to recommend prison from the get-go, and I think this adds fuel to that. This makes it pretty clear in my mind that he can't obey court orders.'
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This story has so much to recommend it: social networking obviously, home confinement, alcoholism and drug addiction tragedies, and victim impact.   It goes without saying that the rage the victims family must feel is at a level of intensity that goes beyond words.  But if you need any further proof that alcohol (and drug addiction) is cunning, baffling and powerful look no further than Brandon Lamar Davis.   Here's a guy who had every reason to abstain, but did not or could not.  Not only that but to brag about it online. 

It would be easy to claim that this example is just some stupid gang banger,  But a study from Loyola Health Systems in 2009 indicated that Facebook was cited in 1 out of 5 divorces.  My guess is that that number is now considerably, higher.  On Bad Lawyer in the past year we saw numerous instances where texting, Facebook and other social networking created an evidentiary foundation for all sorts of litigation mayhem for juries, lawyers and judges.

Facebook Post: "I'm Going to Vote Guilty!"

This is from M[ichigan]Live.com and it's almost unbelievable:

"Like all Macomb County jurors, 20-year-old Hadley Jons received a warning not to discuss her case outside of court. But that didn't stop her from sharing her thoughts on Facebook. 'actually excited for jury duty tomorrow,' she wrote Aug. 11 on the popular social media website. 'it's gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty. :P'

Jons never got that chance though, and the next day proved far from fun.

The Macomb Daily reports the son of defense attorney Saleema Sheikh discovered the Facebook post before Jons eventually deleted it, and Judge Diane Druzinski asked her about it the next day in court. After initially denying the post, Jons reportedly 'put her head down' and failed to respond when Druzinski read it aloud.  Jons was serving as a juror in the trail of a 40-year-old Clinton Township resident charged with a misdemeanor and a felony for resisting arrest. The case went on without her, but prosecutors eventually dismissed it when remaining jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Now, Jons will head back to court to face a potential fine or possible jail time. WDIV reports she will appear before Druzinski on Thursday for a contempt of court hearing.

'She was explicitly explained the rules just like everybody else,'  Sheikh told the television station, arguing Jons deserves to spend a short amount of time behind bars. 'She deliberately defied a court order in something as serious as this. So I think she needs to learn something.'

As far as Facebook failures go, Jons managed a triple crown: She either had lax privacy settings or accepted a friend request from someone she didn't know, discussed a private matter in a very public setting and failed to realize deleting a post doesn't delete it from the public record. Add those to the file."
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Expect this story to make it into a plot line of a television Law and Order episode, soon.