Delaware judges must take extra caution to authenticate postings from social media websites before allowing them to be introduced as evidence in a criminal trial, a public defender told the state Supreme Court last week. The attorney, seeking to overturn his client's assault conviction, told the high court that a Superior Court judge erred by admitting into evidence Facebook postings in which the defendant allegedly confessed to attacking another woman.
"We are dealing with a form of evidence that is evolving, ever-changing and is prone to fraud and manipulation," said Santino Ceccotti of the Delaware Public Defender's Office in Parker v. State. "I think the latest statistics show that some 8 percent of Facebook profiles are fraudulent or they are people masquerading as other individuals. Because we are dealing with this type of evidence, we have to be so careful."
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