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."
Last week some 18 year-old punk was speeding and hit two women who were in town from St. Louis to see the Cardinals play the Phillies. One of them later died.
The cops found his MySpace page, and it's apparently full of pics of him drinking and smoking pot, and the article even says he used a mugshot from a prior arrest as his default photo. The cops got wind of it and snagged his computer and other stuff from his house with a search warrant, and they'll probably use it to stave off any attempt at the "but he's a good boy who just made a mistake" defense.
After reading the article, I am completely disgusted... especially with his parents, under whose noses it seems much of his bad behavior has been going on. Call me old-fashioned, but I think parents should try to raise their kids to, you know, not be a colossal fuckup.
The best part, IMHO, is that for all his "I'm just Mr. Buster Badass" posturing on his MySpace page, he is apparently throwing up in jail because he's so scared (insert derisive Nelson Muntz laugh here).
~Philly
It's not that I don't agree with what you say, but taking your same line of reasoning I can say..
"The methods this prosecutor used is a method any...." doctor, superintendent, boss, government worker, mom, dad, grandpa, etc person of authority "use".
This article is about this particular situation, not about lawyers in general.
This is correct use of technology- hands down, a winning proposition.
Now, it may not be so when prosecutors dredge up photos unrelated to, older, than, or from a different person with the same name, so this only argues for more transparent ways for hosts, services, and users to find unshakeable ways to authenticate what happens under their aegis. opt-in automatic encrypted transmission watermarks, anyone?
responsibility, what a concept!
(or learn 2 anon, use 7 proxies, etc)
What does a 25 year old (former) sex-offender from Texas, have to do with this 20 year old (former) college student from Rhode Island? Other than that they have the same names?
It only takes one man to change the Wisdom of the Crowd to Tyranny of the Masses.
The claim that blacks are being unfairly punished is a totally bogus one.
No, it isn't. See http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/05/04/civil.rights/index.html and http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2006/01/should_criminal.html for starters.
#!
So what we have is a guy who was known for drinking alcoholic beverages, now drinks non-alcoholic Red Bull instead. Any lawyer worth his or her fee, would've pointed out this evidenced change in behaviour as a sign that the subject no longer drank, and therefore should have a reduced sentence.
It's all down to the interpretation.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
George W. Bush does coke, gets arrested, gets a new drivers' license number "000000005" to hide the arrest, gets a bunch more DUIs ... and hasn't done any jail time yet.
If he were black?
until such time as the preponderance of judges and attorneys can be embarrassed by archival pictures/movies on the Internet.
#!
Well, I did a google search, and in a few moments found such work. (Remove references to Conrad Black -- most results have cites to the original sources.)
This sort of thing saddens me. People actually think that the US has become entirely color-blind? And, Slashdotters aren't able to do google searches?
And I've personal experience with this too. I was on the jury of a murder case. It was astounding how often certain other jurers brought up race. For instance, apparently, all black men come "from the same place" and can tell each other apart perfectly!
Obama admitted to doing drugs, and he's not going to jail.
Yet, once he's president, he'll have the official capacity to pardon all non-violent drug offenders... think he'll do it???
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
I work as an Orientation Leader at my college; familiarizing incoming freshman with the campus and what it's like to be a college student, etc. One of the things we warn them about is to not put anything on facebook that they wouldn't want their family to see. Of course, they don't listen and we've had RAs write kids up for things they've done just because the RA saw pictures of it posted on facebook.
When kids get their room assignments, they instantly check their roommates out on facebook. Every now and then we hear stories that even before they've met the roommate, parents ask for a new one because the roommate's facebook page makes them worry the kid might be gay.
This sig is false.
This isn't about privacy. There was no attempt at privacy here.
Anyone feeling threatened by this should up their agoraphobia medicine. Either that, or you should educate yourself in the difference between public and private. Just because you had the false impression that your myspace page was private doesn't make it so.
Newsflash, the exterior of your home is also publicly visible. Hanging a billboard sized child pron poster on it will get you landed in jail, and no amount of "but I didn't think the police would be able to see it there" denial will help you.
Speaking as someone who got run over by a Ford Explorer driven by a drooling idiot, I bet you'd feel quite differently if this dumbass had put your stupid ass in the hospital.
The most miserable part of going through months of surgeries and rehab to try to put your life back together is knowing that the jackass that hit you isn't even sorry about it. I got a year of misery and she got a new car.
When he gets out of prison, he should have to take care of her lawn and clean her house once a week for the next 20 years. Every time he doesn't perform the work to her satisfaction, it's another week in jail.
You can take that Red Bull and shove it. I don't give a shit what he was drinking. Putting on that costume and making a joke out of the misery he caused would have gotten him five to ten if I were a judge.
A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding...
I can tell you here in the south that if a black and a white both get busted for drugs,the white will get rehab and the black will get the pen. I have also been slammed up against the police car and had the cop tell me to my face " I don't know which makes me more sick: a long haired freak like you or the nigger you're riding with". So yeah,I hate to break the news to you,but the clean cut white boy walks while the black rots in jail. Is it fair,hell no. But that is the way it is. Unless you increase police pay by a hell of a lot more than it is now you are going to always have bullies taking the job for the power.
I have also sat in court waiting to buy my way out of a pot bust(I know,a long haired white boy that smoked pot:shocking) and watched as black kids that had less than I did get sent up for anywhere from 6 months to as high as 3 to 5. Meanwhile I paid $800 and got told after my lawyer had a nice little behind the scenes talk with the judge to "have a nice day". Is it fair? Again,not so much. But as the old saying goes "money talks". I was just surprised how little money it took to walk away. But don't ever doubt for a second that your race, appearance and financial status affects how you are treated by the law. And as always this is my 02c based on my experiences with the system,YMMV
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.Thomas Paine, Common Sense
Overzealous laws and punishments can easily become tools of revenge, look to the overapplication of the sex offender laws for example. MADD and others have been trying to move DUI etc convictions in that direction for years. While not trying to defend the subject of this case, age restrictions, time of sales regulations and limits on blood alchohol levels are a bit absurd in the US. We need to monitor and seek to control our laws and their application to maintain balance between the patron and the punisher for as Thomas Paine said we furnish the means by which we suffer.
"The best part is why have Facebook and MySpace so even those of us without the brainpower to use even the simplest of markup can easily show off for the entire world what kinda of asshats we can be when we really try."
I still don't get why people even use facebook (or any social sites). Near as I can tell, it's a vestige of the adolescent misconception that you are the center of the universe and everything you do is interesting and important.
Perhaps that's not fair. It persists well into adulthood as well.
The fact that everything people do and say online lives forever and will affect you for the rest of your life seems to have not sunk in with many people. I'm glad my adolescence and early adulthood are long gone and forgotten by everyone. I can't imagine trying to explain what I did 30+ years later when I was in my mid teens.
I'm assuming this whole thing is like the hula hoop. Seemed like a good idea for a while, and then we threw them out in the late 60's.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
"First of all, he was drinking Red Bull, which is non-alcoholic, and while he was at a party I'd be thinking he'd be excited to be alive. Just me though."
First off, it was after he was already convicted, he was simply awaiting sentencing. So basically he was making light of his potential fate, one he probably doubted he'd get.
Second, according to TFA, Douchebag captioned said photo "Remorseful?" So, again, making light of his conviction and his pending probation (or so he thought).
"The other cases in the article are just as bad. A lady at a party drinking wine after a car accident? Wine just screams alcoholic!"
A car accident in which she was the driver and she killed her passenger. Drinking and joking about it while awaiting sentencing for drunk driving, after having killed somebody, suggests someone that hasn't quite grasped the gravity of brutally killing someone sitting not two feet away from you.
"The prosecution is saying she should be in AA? They know that she's an Alcoholic and didn't just make a bad choice? She's no longer aloud to drink anymore because of a bad choice?"
One in which she killed somebody.
"AA doesn't teach you to act correctly when you drink, it tried to get you to stop drinking completely"
Not that bad of an idea considering the fact that she killed someone and still saw to make light of it.
"Not to say I don't think they deserved it but expecting people to become inhuman because of an accident is just plain stupid."
How about ceasing the activity that previously lead to someone's death? Is that too much to expect? At least during the sentencing phase?
"A guy drinking red bull is a good example of just how RANDOM these pictures can be and yet they are grounds for upping a sentence?"
In a picture that the guy himself captioned as "Remorseful?" He was busily, actively, and consciously flaunting the fact that he wasn't remorseful, one of the conditions he would have needed to satisfy if he were going to to get away with probation.
Seriously, did you read the same linked article as I did?
There really isn't any reason why one that is drunk or under the influence of drugs, should be sitting at the wheel.
I think you will find there is very little reason involved in such senseless crimes. DUI punishment is already pretty severe, yet people still do it, probably because they are drunk and can't reason.
Then again, even very smart and reasonable people still commit pretty dumb crimes which are already punished by death (Re: Hans Reiser)
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Human Rights Watch is widely respected and aggressively non-partisan.
If you're a Leftist or, at the very least, are pro-abortion and pro-LGBT.
If you're a Conservative, well, ....
frankly, it's difficult for any reasonably intelligent observer
Yep. That about finishes my sentence.
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
We're judging people now because of character instead of actions? If so, some politicians should be shitting their pants right now.
Who gets to define "moral" behaviour? You? Me? Some thinkofthechildren goon in Washington? Personally, I'd be shitting my pants now if it was the latter.
What I want him to be, or what I want him to suffer like, is not important. That's what sets a legal system apart from mob rule. There is a very good reason that not the person who was wronged gets to decide on the punishment but why we have a legal code defining that.
Does it change the state his victim is in when he mourns and cries? No. Does his victim gain anything out of him avoiding parties? No. So what is this about? Revenge? He must not enjoy his life because he made someone miserable?
By that logic, some company execs should never party again. Ever.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Hah! That sounds great in theory, but do you think this guy will be rehabilitated from serving 2 years in prison? NO!
His life is completely ruined. He won't be able to find a job, he won't complete his studied. He became a detriment to society.
Justice indeed!
In general I don't have a problem of using extra sources of information like Facebook. What I find disturbing about this is that the judge's decision was influenced, even according to the judge, by photos that someone else posted to facebook. From what I can tell that photographer was never cross-examined to establish the actual context of the photograph. For all we know, someone who didn't like the guy might have coerced him into a non-representative situation for a moment so they could snap the photo to put on Facebook, then tag him in the photo to make it easy for any prosecuting lawyer to stumble upon.
Was he dragged to a party by friends to take his mind of things after 2 weeks of hell? Who else was there? Were they all close friends, and were they the sorts of people who'd try to embarrass him for his mistake? Well I hope the courts investigated that properly. Perhaps he did deserve what he got in this case, but if it's as easy to influence a judge as this article implies, it concerns me.