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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."

8 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?

  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. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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.

  6. 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.
  7. 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.