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Robbery Suspect Cleared By Facebook Alibi

Posted by Soulskill on from the your-computer-is-broadcasting-an-ip-address dept.

postermmxvicom writes "Rodney Bradford has been cleared of robbery charges because of a Facebook update. The defense was able to prove that the update was made from his father's house, 13 miles away from the crime committed one minute earlier. Lawyer John G. Browning said, 'This is the first case that I’m aware of in which a Facebook update has been used as alibi evidence. We are going to see more of that because of how prevalent social networking has become.' Surely, this must be media hype, since it would not be a difficult alibi to fake."

16 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    $ at now + 30 minutes
    at> curl -d 'status=lol watching tv' http://www.facebook.com
    at> <EOT>
    job 1 at 2009-11-14 15:36

    Now, who to murder first?

    1. Re:Awesome! by Shatrat · · Score: 4, Funny

      "WHO to murder first"? Your grammar teacher.

      Well that appears to be you, so start writing your will.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  2. Probably wasn't the case here.. by Anrego · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But what happens when scripting becomes involved..

    Write a script to make a "hey.. not out murdering my wife's lover" post then destroy/shred itself whilst you're out doing your chainsaw work.

    1. Re:Probably wasn't the case here.. by sopssa · · Score: 5, Informative

      Seems his facebook status update alibi is in connection with what witnesses said too;

      Bradford and witnesses insisted he was innocent. They said he was at his father's Harlem apartment when the crime occurred.

      So it's not only about the status update. Also, I would think a murder case would get more investigation than a robbery too.

  3. Sweet! by d3ac0n · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So basically,

    I can go commit any crime I want, as long as I use a remote desktop/VNC program to remote into my PC at home from my smart phone and post something to Facebook immediately afterward?

    SWEET! Time to to rob that bank!

    --
    Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
    1. Re:Sweet! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or, for a lower tech solution, just get someone else to do it.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Sweet! by d3ac0n · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is /. We don't DO "lower tech" solutions here bub.

      ;)

      --
      Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
  4. Facebook status: by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not robbing

  5. There's an app for that by Powercntrl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Say you want to go burglarize someone's house, but you need to make it appear that you're posting on Facebook from your parents' basement? Well there's an app for that too!

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    1. Re:There's an app for that by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wave phone in officer's face. "These aren't the Droids you are looking for."

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  6. Double-edged sword. by prakslash · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This decision just gave the IP address sword its second edge.

    On the one hand, they were using IP addresses to identify and prosecute people for 'illegal' downloading and accessing child porn. Now, someone was aquitted based on their IP address.

    Interesting indeed. Probably now, the authorities will realize the futility of using IP addresses as evidence.

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Re:HTTP Proxy? VPN Tunnel? by autocracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most evidence, with enough effort, can be faked. We usually call those conspiracies.

    It would be a great amount of effort for a small robbery to perform this task and to get the corroborating evidence. There is very reasonable doubt that he committed the crime.

    --
    SIG: HUP
  9. Re:HTTP Proxy? VPN Tunnel? by whoda · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They did consider VPN's and Proxies and fairies too.
    They also had witnesses, aka Real People, who also testified he was at his fathers house.
    It was corroborating evidence, not the piece the case hinged on.

    Once again, Facebook verified what multiple REAL PEOPLE were telling the cops. It wasn't the only piece of evidence.

    You love how ignorant people are of the legal profession, I love how people like you are so pompous and know-it-all's they can't even read the article.

  10. Slashdot Alibi... by qpawn · · Score: 4, Funny

    I could have been cleared, but I posted as an Anonymous Coward.

  11. Re:HTTP Proxy? VPN Tunnel? by bumburumbi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, it is within the realm of the possible that somebody sat down and applied Occams razor to the possible scenarios: The first scenario involves this bloke (1) planning to rob somebody, (2) setting up a proxy or vpn service and (3) some people conspiring to give false evidence. The second scenario: The bloke was at home and nobody lied.