Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Paralegals & Legal Secretaries Blogs -> Practical Paralegalism

Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

: Practical Paralegalism

Juror Discovers No Take Backs on Facebook

By Lynne DeVenny

A 20-year old Michigan juror prematurely posted the pending guilty verdict in a criminal trial on her Facebook page, and now she's the one facing possible criminal charges.

Maybe you're thinking, "Meh. No biggie." But the trial judge is considering contempt of court charges, and the defendant's attorney is lobbying for jail time - and a close reading of the Constitution.

The seriously ill-advised tweet read, "Actually excited for jury duty tomorrow. It's gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty."

This real life social media courtroom drama illustrates the "no take back" effect on many status updates that should never see the light of day. Even if you think only your awesome Facebook BFFs can see your every clever (or clueless) thought, you don't know who they're sharing it with, who's helpfully saved it with a screen capture or emailed it to all of their co-workers - or even if you forgot to change your privacy settings from the entire Detroit, Michigan network.

When first questioned by the judge, Jons apparently denied making the post not knowing the entire message had been copied word for word off the Internet before she erased the posting.

I doubt this juror will be updating her Facebook status to read, "I'm so excited about court tomorrow. It's gonna be fun to be told I'm guilty."

Source: ClickOnDetroit

Full post as published by Practical Paralegalism on August 30, 2010 (boomark / email).