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Don't Google "How To Commit Murder" Before Killing
An anonymous reader alerts us to a murder trial in New Jersey in which Google and MSN searches were used against a woman accused of killing her husband. In the days before the murder, prosecutors say the defendant searched for "How To Commit Murder," "instant poisons," "undetectable poisons," "fatal digoxin doses," and gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Her husband was killed with a gun procured in Pennsylvania. The crime occurred in 2004; of course, people now know to be careful about their searches.
Hi,
if my wife gets murdered, will it make me a suspect if I've googled for "ReiserFS"?
bye,
Till
I hope they found this in the auto-finish feature, and not from Google?
Matthew Sparkes
IANAL, but.. why not?
"Is that dad? Either that or Batman's really let himself go."
Not much different from admitting evidence suggesting an alleged had checked out a book on poisons from the library when the stand accused of a poisoning death.
What I want to know is whether researching the search histories of the accused is the status quo.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Or alternatively, don't kill anyone?
Somehow that seems simpler to me.
It says she bought the prescription at Walgreens, it would have been much cheaper if she had bought them elsewhere. She got caught, and she didn't get the best deal, what a fool.
Matthew Sparkes
IANAL, but this would support premeditation -- not necessarily that she COMMITTED the murder. This type of evidence could go a long way in changing a murder 2 case in to a murder 1 case.
I often search for things on wikipedia and google just out of personal interest and curiosity. Every time I search for something related to weaponry or toxic substances etc. I can't help but think to myself "will this ever come back to haunt me?"
:\
For example, the other night I was watching an action movie and it got me curious about exactly what plastic explosives are and how they work. You see them in movies all the time and there's obviously a lot of misinformation and hollywood make-believe at hand so I wanted to find out the real story. I wiki'd for it and had an interesting read.
Now the next time I go to cross the Canada/US border (I live on a border town) I half expect customs to detain me and bring up those searches
Mmm'k - so it's AskSlashdot next time?
www.sjbaker.org
Note that the police and prosecutors apparently didn't need to subpoena Microsoft or Google for search records, but rather recovered the search URLs from the browser history.
Why do you think it would not be admissable?
Anything can be forged or faulty, be it pics, documents, or server logs, the possibility that it could be faked is not by itself grounds for inadmissibility.
While it might be hearsay, it would be a statement against interest, which is one of the hearsay exceptions.
IANAL, although my wife is, and I helped her study a little.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
IANAL, so could someone explain to me how the heck something like this could be admitted as evidence?
IAALS, so this might not be entirely the best answer, but it seems to me the hardest thing will be authenticating the data. Barring a first party admission (who the hell would admit to this?), Google would have to authenticate the search terms, the IP would have to be authenticated as that of the defendant's at that time. So you'd have to subpoena the records from Google, authenticate them, and in they come.
But remember, admitting something as evidence doesn't mean it's not rebuttable. You can bring in an expert to talk about how its cloudy that the IP was hers, etc. In the end, the finder of fact (the jury) determines whether or not its credible. The rules of evidence only keep out the stuff that's really irrelevant, overly prejudicial, hearsay, etc.
Now maybe a real lawyer will correct me if I'm missing something.
Now your employer will use that against you in your next performance review. :)
- "Steve Ballmer" + Zune + squirt + Naked
- Walrus Porn
- enriched uranium for sale
- "girl" + "myspace" + "16 and under" + "sex" + "I am not an FBI agent"
- Latex frog fetish
- "How can I keep the feds from discovering my vast marijuana growing operation?"
- "genital warts" + "cures" + "sandpaper"
- "nitroglycerin" + "subway schedule" + "best escape routes"
- anthrax + "crop dusting license"
- "Cowboy Neal in Bondage"
- Crow T. Trollbotshould have been 'Just Kidding'
Sure you can. But you might be in trouble when your ex-wife is found tied up in a grave with an ether smell coming from the box.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Someone happened to murder my husband in a similar fashion (he was a very detestable man, everyone hated him and as a result I suffered at home). There's your shadow of a doubt.
But, oddly enough, I've seen what the courts allow the RIAA & MPAA to submit as evidence (server logs with IP addresses) to prosecute people and, at least in those cases, that's all the evidence they need! Considering this, am I shocked that a legally requisitioned computer can be submitted & used as evidence? Not really--though I should be. It's a shame what the "Justice System" is becoming these days.
I guess I could stretch this and look for people who search for "to build a fire" and charge them with all unsolved arsons in their area. Boy scouts & Jack London fans beware!
My work here is dung.
All the information used against that woman was obtained by the computer forensic team after they seized her computer using the right procedure, obtaining a warrant first, and keeping the whole chain of evidence rules.
You guys need to remember that only because it is digital it doesn't mean it is less relevant or admissible. Had she asked a doctor what is the lethal dose of a certain substance, or what are the less detectable poisons, or similar suspicious questions like those, this doctor would certainly be called as a prosecution witness, and his deposition would certainly be admissible and relevant. Why then the same pursuit of knowledge would not be admissible or relevant? Because it is not a real doctor that got asked, but the internet?
Notice that I'm not saying that it is sufficient evidence to nail her, as IANAL and I don't know the details of the case. But at least admissible and relevant it is.
If I was defense, I would argue that it's overly prejudicial when balanced with its probative value, but without more of the facts, I really can't expand on that. I think that's a better shot than hearsay. I don't think its hearsay at all (not really an out of court statement meant as an assertion by a party other than the accused). If it is, though, that's why FRE 807's there, this would probably fall into the residual exception.
IAALS? I am a lawyer's sidekick?
Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
The latter is much scarier IMHO. I don't want anyone to commit murder and get away with it, but, I didn't realize that Google searches could be traced from their systems backwards to you.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
i know he can keep a secret. he helped me out that time i woke up in a strange hotel room in denver next to a dead hooker.
as luck would have it, getting rid of dead hookers is a common problem and there are many useful articles on wikihow. i can tell you from experience that your company's helpdesk is NOT very cooperative in a situation like that.
sarcasm:
-noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
Law student :)
Before you shoot someone, do a bunch of searches for "poisons". That way the cops will expect you to poison someone and when they find the body they will be all like "Welp, he wasn't poisoned, so I guess you didn't do it".
As a regular watcher of "Law and Order" and "CSI: Miami", I can assure you that the law does not work that way.
The article says they got it from seized computers, presumably from the browser history or saved form field data.
Just one question here: If the RIAA can't prove who was using a computer for filesharing, how can someone prove who was using the computer for Google searching? Even if you have the computer and the searches still on it, does that say who was at the keyboard? Consider, maybe the husband was researching how to kill his wife, she found out, and got him first.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Same thing. ;)
I read TFA. It states that a forensic analyist went through at least one of eight computers that the defendant is suspected of using. The one in question is from her home, if I recall. If the report is accurate (probably close enough) and complete (who knows), neither her ISP nor Google were involved in determining what the person using that computer was searching for.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Well, having had my computer taken by the cops as "evidence", I've learned several important lessons:
1) The cops have _no_ sense of humor. Thanks to Fark, I had This, and This in my cache. Apparently, I'm now into terrorism and child trafficing.
2) EFS doesn't help. Microsoft's Encrypting File System doesn't encrypt anything that can't be broken in seconds with the password (and usually minutes/hours without).
So, especially for farkers, get TrueCrypt. It's free, and open-source. Then, get TCTEMP. It makes it so your temporary files encrypted with a random key. Restart, and they all go "poof". Then get TCGina. You get to encrypt your home directory (and history, documents, etc.) - it automatically mounts it when you login.
Use AES/SHA-1 as your encryption scheme, and pick a good password. If you're _really_ paranoid, grab Shred Agent (wipes files you delete automatically), and Distrust (a firefox addon that automatically deletes your history and cache for you). Nobody is _ever_ going to be recovering your data (even you, if you forget your password).
If you are looking for a quick, easy, fool-proof way to wipe your hard drive so _nobody_ will _ever_ recover _anything_ from it, make yourself a DBAN disk. Easy to use, and it gets the job done right.
EyePee addresses are traceable only to whatever you have that terminates them, such as a wireless cable/router, or at worst, your computer. They are not stamped inside your head or buried in an RFID in your skin such that they necessarily place your hands on a keyboard/mouse such that you're necessarily engaged with whatever activity was occurring on that link.
In all probability they asked her if she was using her computer at such and such time, and she said yes, allowing it into court. That they managed to get the logs from Google is another matter entirely, but I suspect Google had no choice.
Actually, she didn't have the savvy to flush her cache.
Actually, she'd have done much better to degauss her hard drive after the dirty deed.
Actually, she'd have done much better not to have killed anyone in the first place.
As a detective friend of mine once said, "Yer criminals'r mostly stupid - it's why they're criminals."
sigs, as if you care.
It's the tights and cape you're wearing that made us think sidekick.
Rod Taylor
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't think there's any need to subpoena Google. Just look at the browser history -- the search terms you google are clearly visible -- so an entry of http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+kill+s omeone is probably what they found. You authenticate the chain of custody of the computer where you retrieved the browser history (probably via a forensic image of the computer), and you have testimony from the investigator that the computer was retrieved from xyz location and handled in a forensically sound manner, etc. etc.
Once you have the foundation of the browser history entry, then you introduce expert testimony regarding what that history entry means -- in other words, that someone using that computer (and perhaps logged in via a certain user profile) went to Google and searched for those terms.
In this manner, it doesn't go in via the party admission hearsay exception.
On cross-examination, the other side could attack the chain of custody and could probably elicit admissions that the evidence just shows that the computer was used and that it could have been someone besides the defendant doing the searching. And then there's always the possibility of forgery / planted evidence -- but with the forensic image (which is usually hashed) and the chain-of-custody logs, you'd probably have a hard time. All of this stuff goes to the WEIGHT of the evidence, and not to its admissibility.
IAAL.
Just search for 'border guard fetish'. They should wave you right through...
But you may also want to read up on 'personal lubricant', just in case you get an agent who stops you anyway - then you might REALLY be in trouble.
paintball
Careful what you're clicking!
gtkaml.org
Clearly, it must have been her husband researching how to kill her! She killed him in self defense after finding out what he was searching for on the internet.
And I reckon that it was simply checking the browser history, whilst this evidence is circumstantial (eg was she using computer at time etc) it really is a kicker regards proving intent/pre meditation :-)
wow, didn't know you needed a guide to do that.
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
They almost certainly did, but what sways juries is testimony, generally explaining or about physical evidence, not the evidence itself. A bunch of files wouldn't do anything by themselves; a good expert can take the evidence and explain it in such a way that it's compelling to the jury.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
I'm using your router, so while I'm not anonymous I am not me either. :p
Seriously I'm beginning to think that the best defense is to have an open WiFi connection and claim to be a "data communist" when confronted with IP logs.
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
They were looking at the searches, then using them to investigate what she did. So they found she was searching for instant poisons/undetectable poisons/fatal dioxin doses and also accessing www.walgreens.com/storelocator. Then they used this information to find the pharamacist who filled the prescription for chloral hydrate (written by the accused's alleged boyfriend who happens to be a doctor). So apparently they used the information on her computer as a starting point. I think that's a valid police technique. They don't have proof that the drug in question (chloral hydrate) was actually used on her husband, though. Just from the data given in the article it would also be possible that someone else had purchased the chloral hydrate, or that the chloral hydrate was not used in the murder at all.
During murder investigations police can search personal belongings of suspects. I think it must be a horrible feeling to have this happen to you. On the other hand, it certainly seems reasonable that the police would not just search hand-written things but also data which is on a suspects computer (provided there is a proper legal process in place to prevent arbitrary searches). If they find that someone searched for poisons on the internet, on a computer you have access to, just the day before your spouse was murdered - I think that's valid circumstantial evidence.
Agreed.
Nearly all evidence is circumstantial. They could find the gun in your hand - all that means is you picked it up. Not that you fired it. They could find gunshot residue on your hand - all that means is you fired it, not that you fired it at the victim.
I'd hate to be that innocent bastard who stumbles over a gun and picks it up only to have it accidently discharge into the floor, before seeing his very recently murdered ex-girlfriend lying just a few feet away.
Similarly, finding this in her browser history doesn't make her guilty but it sure closes the window of 'reasonable doubt' a little more.
Generally, first is with intent to kill - premeditation. That can be hard to prove, depending where you're tried. Just because someone heard you mutter "i'd love to pound that guys head in" a year earlier, may not be enough.
I can see here, researching on the internet, shows intent, and a really cold character.
Commission of a murder, during the comission of another felony is first degree by default. I think the logic goes: by robbing that liquor store, you showed a disregard for the clerks life, and therefore a certain willingness to take it, or by fleeing the police in the car, you show a willingness to run over the 6 year old crossing the road, etc.
Second degree would be maybe shaking a baby to death, beating someone to death. It gets hairy here, splitting between 2nd degree murder and manslaughter. Manslaughter I understand as accidental, but due to some negligence on your part. 2nd degree murder is accidental, but due to actions taken on your part.
It is confusing. It's easier just not to kill people.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I'm using your router, so while I'm not anonymous I am not me either.
Unless you're extremely diligent about clearing your cookies, it's likely that whatever search engine you frequent can piece together who you are. Remember the AOL logs? If you use gmail or yahoo mail, it gets even easier, as they can cross-reference against your email.
I'm beginning to think that the best defense is to have an open WiFi connection and claim to be a "data communist" when confronted with IP logs.
A friend of mine has the same philosophy. While I agree with it in principle, I think in practice it's rather dangerous in today's world. Imagine what a jury is going to be thinking when the prosecution trots out your ISP's traffic logs showing searches on murder methods, police procedures, firearms regulations, evasion techniques, money laundering and corpse disposal, complete with hard copies of a few choice pictures from ogrish or rotten. Regardless of the fact that you run an open AP, most of the jury members are only going to remember all the disturbing things that were searched and viewed from your connection, and believe that even if you didn't perform those searches and view those pages, you must have some implicit connection with those who did.
Or, imagine that the RIAA sues you for copyright infringement after downloading Britney's greatest hits from somebody leeching your connection. Even if you've never run a P2P client yourself, you're now in the unenviable position of having to defend yourself against a well-financed team of legal bullies. Even if you get them to concede that your open AP casts doubt on their assertion that you were the direct infringer, I wouldn't be surprised if they then decided to change tacks and go after you for contributory infringement or some such.
As a former prosecutor in Louisiana, I can explain this one for you. To begin with, understand that the penalty for Murder 2 is life in prison, no parole. And here in Louisiana, that sentence means you will die in prison. For Murder 1, the penalty is either the death penalty or life in prison.
We don't use the concept of "premeditation" in Louisiana, we use "intent." If you kill somebody, and you had an intent to kill them, that's Murder 2, even if that intent was formed the second you pulled the trigger. You don't have to "lie in wait" or anything like that. In a poisoning case, the only defense, beyond just I didn't put the arsenic in his soup" would be "I had no idea that was arsenic, it came out of the jar labelled 'sugar.'" It's also Murder 2 if you kill someone in the course of committing another crime, such as armed robbery. Say you accidentally drop the gun while you're pulling the robbery, and it goes off and kills somebody. You didn't intend to kill the guy, you didn't pull the trigger, but you did kill him in the course of a robbery, so that's Murder 2.
Murder One is a murder where you intended to kill someone AND one of several aggravating circumstances is present. If you shoot a cop and kill him, that's Murder 1. If you're pulling a robbery AND you intentionally shoot the store clerk, that's Murder 1 (if you had only accidentally shot the store clerk, it would be Murder 2).
You can read the law for yourself:
- First Degree Murder
- Second Degree Murder
Note the use of the phrase "intent to kill or cause great bodily harm." That's in there to prevent the murderer from claiming "yeah, I shot him, but I only wanted to wound him in the arm, I didn't mean to shoot him in the heart."At the same time, it opens up another path for somebody who wants to frame somebody else for the crime.
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
The idea is that a jury never sees any of what you mention above. You never trust a jury to make the right choice. You control what they see and thus allow them to only make one choice. The one you want them to. Your lawyer should be able to get all of this labeled as inadmissible by showing that multiple MAC addresses regularly and routinely connect to your computer. You did keep those logs right? At that point you supeana the computers of everyone in a 500 ft radius and check for matching MAC addresses. Then you search matching computers for evidence of those searches. If you don't have people regularly and routinely connecting to your computer, and the logs to prove it, then your "data communist" defense is motion denied. The jury will see the pics and searches. You will probably go to jail.
I find being offended by me offensive.
According to the article, they got the search results from her computer. Not Google nor MSN.
Dubya, is that you?
(trolling, I know)
henry -- the human evolution news relay
I was kinda expecting this to be the first link...
The view was horrible and the smell was even worse; Julie severely regretted becoming a proctologist.