With the rise of social media platforms and an increase in cell usage, digital evidence has permeated the courtrooms. Technology can play a pivotal role in a case, whether that be evidence against the accused or strong evidence to present a solid defense at trial.
What Types of Digital Evidence Can be Used in a Criminal Case?
Digital evidence encompasses a wide range of data types, and any information stored or transmitted. Typically, it can be found on computers, cell phones, and other mobile devices. Below are a few of the most common types of digital evidence that are used in the courtroom:
- Chats, such as text messages, messages on apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Discord;
- Social media activity such as direct messages, posts, and comments;
- Email chats, which can contain financial information, documents, and other conversations that may be essential to a case;
- Call logs and location data;
- Browsing and search history that may be pertinent to a case.
How Can Digital Evidence Help your Case?
Including digital evidence in your criminal case successfully requires meticulous thought and effort. For example, an accused may want to include call logs and location data to show they were not at the location of an alleged crime. To do this successfully, our attorneys will need to obtain the information, typically through a subpoena, analyze the call logs and the cell site location information, and incorporate that into a defense strategy that will compel a judge or a jury. Social media activity and chat messages can show intent or lack thereof that might be helpful in defeating charges such as assault and domestic violence. Such evidence can also show an alleged victim’s state of mind around the time of an incident. It can contradict an alleged victim’s or a witness’s statement, and it can also corroborate your statement, as the accused.
How Can Digital Evidence Harm your Case?
As much as digital evidence can help you succeed in your case, it is necessary to take precautions to avoid your digital footprint potentially harming your case. Social media activity, chats, calls, and search history, can contradict your own testimony or alibi as the accused. Social media and text communication plays such a large part of all of our lives. However, it is important to be mindful that once it’s out there it most certainly can be used against you. You have to assume that whatever you put out there will last forever.
It’s important to consider who you hire to defend your interests. Retaining a criminal defense attorney in Cleveland, who knows how to navigate challenging the admission of digital evidence when it can be harmful to your case is key.
How Can AJLJ Law Help you Utilize Digital Evidence in your Criminal Case?
As technology evolves, the use of it in a criminal case is expanding as well. The increasing accessibility of digital evidence can serve as a positive to criminal defense cases but can also be a downfall in a case. As users of social media and technology ourselves, attorneys at AJLJ Law know how to navigate digital evidence in your case. You can’t expect an attorney to assist you in a case involving digital evidence if they don’t even know what a reel is.
