The New Mexico Supreme Court agreed with the legal framework used by the intermediate appeals court to authenticate screenshots of a Facebook Messenger conversation, but not its determination that the district court had abused its discretion.
Justice Briana H. Zamora, in her written opinion, said this matter of first impression required the court to consider whether social media evidence should be governed by the traditional authentication standard set forth in Rule 11-901. Properly authenticated evidence, stated Zamora, must contain a showing ”sufficient to support a finding that the item is what the proponent claims it is,” according to the Federal Rule of Evidence.
