While many were preparing to shut it down for the holidays and enjoy some holiday cheer, the Appellate Division was hard at work issuing a significant evidentiary ruling during the ordinarily subdued week before Christmas last month. In State of New Jersey v. Terri Hannah, Docket No. A-5741-14T3, decided Dec. 20, 2016, the Appellate Division tackled the requirements for the authentication of social media content at trial in New Jersey.
The social media content at issue was a tweet that supported the State’s case against a defendant accused of assaulting another woman—her ex-boyfriend’s then current girlfriend—with her high heeled shoe at a party attended by the trio. The tweet in question read, in relevant part, “shoe to ya [sic.] face bitch[,]” and was published under the defendant’s Twitter “ handle” after the alleged assault took place.
