Slashdot Mirror
Social Networking Sites Becoming Useful For Lawyers
chareverie writes "With how the internet has become, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become a tool for crime solvers, employers, and now, lawyers. Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunk driving case, the college junior attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner, with the words 'jail bird' on his costume. Not surprisingly, his prosecutor was able to obtain photos of him at the party that were posted on Facebook, and claimed he was an 'unrepentant partier who lived it up while his victim recovered in the hospital.' The photos were presented in a slideshow, with one of them showing Lipton holding a can of Red Bull in one hand, and an arm draped around a girl bearing sorority letters. The judge agreed with the prosecutor, and changed Lipton's sentence to two years in prison. The article also cites other instances of people getting harsher sentences from pictures of them posted online."
... of douchebaggery.
Its not too hard to picture a case where the defense uses a facebook profile that portrays their client in a good light, or the prosecution in a bad light.
The defendant will already have access to the photos that show him in a good light. The prosecution will be the People of The United States of America. You can certainly show them in a bad light but it isn't going to help your case.
I see what you mean.
The flood was going to kill the animals anyway, might as well feed them to the homeless instead.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Over the horizon? Hell I'm flingin' poo now! It's very therapeutic You should see my monitor when there's a comment I don't agree with!
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
Nobody is afflicted with any of that nasty personal responsibility for anything they unless it manages to run afowl of those last few vestiges of silly old sensibilites ...
I remember when I was a kid, I was given a small "chick" by a friend who was forced to give it away. My mum, being the sensible type (at least so I thought) let me keep it, like she let me keep most things I brought home as pets. The chick quickly grew to be a rooster and just as quickly I discovered roosters make lousy pets.
We kept the thing in the backyard with a long length of clothesline tied to one of its legs. We lived in the middle of a medium-sized city, so we had to keep it constrained (not that constraining it helped with early morning crowing which woke up most of the neighbourhood). Once or twice a week, the rooster (we didn't give him a name) would manage to get loose and go do whatever it is roosters like to do. In his case, he like to walk up and down the sidewalk in front of our our house chasing strangers who happened to pass by. Can't tell you how many people who knocked on our door and yelled and screamed at my mum because they were "attacked" while on their way to the bus stop.
To make a long story short, the poor guy didn't last out the year. Not because of anything the neighbours or local constabulatory did, but because my mum decided to make chicken for dinner. I was a kid, so I cried and cried, but eventually came out of my bedroom and sat down at the table in front of the biggest, most golden chicken I've ever seen. Some years later it dawned on me that the corn porridge which we kids refused to eat in the morning (typically called "polenta" when sold in restaurants) but was fed to the rooster, was the reason why it looked and tasted so good.
Is that what you meant by run afowl?
...photos of myself walking old ladies across the street and rescuing babies from burning buildings. That should acquit me from any future crimes.
.
Until you actually find it, how do you know it's temporary?
The photos were presented in a slideshow, with one of them showing Lipton holding a can of Red Bull in one hand, and an arm draped around a girl bearing sorority letters.
Whilst Red Bull may not count as alcoholic, it is commonly accepted that sorority girls do.
Much like those famous toads, lick one and you can usually get a pretty decent contact high just from the alcohol and roofies that secrete through their skin.
I'd consider the undeserved stereotype argument but these are the same people who protested that SDSU's new sorority houses weren't being built close enough to the new frat houses and, in the state the girls intended to regularly get themselves in to, who knew what would happen to them as they staggered from one to another.