March 7, 2016
The court of appeals recently decided State v. Ford, a case about the authentication of social media evidence. This is the first North Carolina appellate case to give careful consideration […]
February 19, 2015
More and more criminal cases involve video evidence, whether from patrol car dash cameras, store surveillance cameras, witness cell phone cameras, or, in the near future, wearable cameras. It’s important […]
December 2, 2014
One of my all-time favorite emails was received from a prosecutor who was handling a drug trafficking case. The email included a picture, plucked from what purported to be the […]
June 2, 2014
I’ve had more and more questions about introducing GPS tracking data in criminal trials. When I think about digital evidence, I think about authentication as the first hurdle. This post […]
May 19, 2014
Suppose that the defendant is charged with a gang-related murder. The State seeks to establish that the defendant is a gang member by introducing a photograph that a detective found […]
October 17, 2012
I recently heard a police detective say that the internet was the worst thing that ever happened to law enforcement. He explained that before advent of the internet, criminals had […]
March 15, 2011
Suppose that the state wants to introduce the defendant’s phone records, in order to show that he called the victim in violation of a DVPO. The state subpoenas the records, […]
January 14, 2010
Regular readers know that I have a particular interest in the intersection of new technologies and criminal law. But I am not the only person at the School of Government […]