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Suspect Freed After Exposing Cop's Facebook Status

longacre writes "A man on trial in New York for possession of a weapon has been acquitted after subpoenaing his arresting officer's Facebook and MySpace accounts. His defense: Officer Vaughan Ettienne's MySpace 'mood' was set to 'devious' on the day of the arrest, and one day a few weeks before the trial, his Facebook status read 'Vaughan is watching "Training Day" to brush up on proper police procedure.' From the article: '"You have your Internet persona, and you have what you actually do on the street," Officer Ettienne said on Tuesday. "What you say on the Internet is all bravado talk, like what you say in a locker room." Except that trash talk in locker rooms almost never winds up preserved on a digital server somewhere, available for subpoena.'"

23 of 653 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What the hell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That defense actually WORKED? Sorry, but that is nothing more than "locker room talk". If silly bits and pieces like that are valid in court, then the idiotic judge just opened a massive can of worms. Nice precedent, asshole. No more joking on the internet because someone could take it seriously!

    I know! This really ticks me off! I totally want to grab a handgun and take out a large handful of innocent bystanders before turning the gun on myself. Or maybe I'll start a blog!

  2. Re:What the hell? by s0litaire · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok if i ever have a FaceBook page the status is gonna be set to "That cop set me up" or "I'm innocent" That should get me set free!! :D

    --
    Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
  3. Re:What the hell? by GrpA · · Score: 5, Funny

      The defendant had better hope never to see:

      Officer Vaughan Ettienne's MySpace "mood" set to "vigilante"

      GrpA

    --
    Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
  4. FACE it.... by djupedal · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...that was one guy he never should have had BOOKed.

    1. Re:FACE it.... by kyjl · · Score: 3, Funny

      *sunglasses*

      YEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH

      --
      Perl, n. A language spoken by Eskimos.
  5. No messing around by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is the kind of news that keeps me on track. When I release an SBD, I maintain a poker face.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  6. Re:What the hell? by Mozk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please, no! Just kill the people!

    --
    No existe.
  7. Damn skippy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tough titty. If you're a public official, you have to live up to a higher standard than everyone else - it's part of the deal. Even the appearance of unfairness or impropriety is unacceptable, insofar as it relates to your position.

    To this end, I have compiled a list of analogous examples of facebook status lines, as depicted by their various professions:

    - Catholic Priest: "Off to work for me...Long day ahead of corn-holing a bunch of kids."

    - Astronaut: "Launch time is tomorrow morning. This time tomorrow, I should be safely in orbit, pulling my pud and spewing my wad into someone's EVA glove."

    - Programmer for Microsoft: "Damn I got coder's block. Time to find something useful inside the linux kernel."

    - Local baker: "I just fooled around for two hours with my raunchy girlfriend and haven't washed my hands. Gonna go bake some bread."

    - Medical examiner: "I'm just so bloody horny lately and dammit the online dating just isn't working out for me."

    - County Judge: "Feeling a bit woozy right now after sampling everything out of the medicine cabinet."

    - Airline pilot: "Life sucks and I want to die."

    - Cthulhu: "Sometimes i just want a hug."

  8. Re:What the hell? by AndrewNeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just wonder what his Fark or 4Chan handle is.

    On 4chan, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say it's Anonymous .

  9. Re:What the hell? by Mr_eX9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Learn the difference between "lose" and "loose." One applies to you, the other applies to your mother :)

  10. Re:What the hell? by Warll · · Score: 4, Funny

    What a coward...

  11. Re:What the hell? by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 4, Funny

    When you see people drunk, they look, waddle, and quack like ducks? Man, you know some frickin' strange drunk people, Aranykai.

    --
    Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
  12. Terminology by jonaskoelker · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought the term was "bald-faced lying scumbag", but then again I'm ANAL and not good with language ;-)

    1. Re:Terminology by MadDogX · · Score: 2, Funny

      Obviously, because the expression "I'm ANAL" doesn't make much sense, except to tell us that you are extremely anal. ... Are you?

    2. Re:Terminology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Or he's arguing with himself... "I am AM NOT! a lawyer"

  13. Re:What the hell? by gandhi_2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or he just knows people who know how to party.

  14. Re:Fuck the Police by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you can go fight freedom?

  15. Re:What the hell? by luder · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, I got totally drunk last night and I surely don't remember having any of those symptoms...

  16. Re:What the hell? by damburger · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hate "sir". I am much more comfortable with "oi, you" which is a happy coincidence, living in England.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  17. Re:What the hell? by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 2, Funny

    It was Bird flu?

  18. Re:What the hell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    d e e r.

    Your sentence doesn't make cents.

  19. Re:What the hell? by GogglesPisano · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it looks, waddles and quacks like a duck...

    So, logically, it's made of wood.

    And, therefore, a witch.

    BURN IT!

  20. Re:What the hell? by cerberusss · · Score: 2, Funny

    [...] in the rain and couldn't properly see the road. [...] These days, I slow down and take it easy in situations like that.

    Reminds me of my late grandpa (God bless him). He was of the old school. Sure you could drink all you want, and still drive. But, he assured me, you have to use common sense and adjust your speed!

    Fortunately for the rest of the road users, his speed wasn't that high to begin with. So after a copious meal with four glasses of wine, he would drive home with about 5 to 10 miles per hour....

    --
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