We live in a world of the internet, with social media and other platforms that control our lives and sway decision-making in real life. We bring this up today because we are also seeing a change in how social media and other platforms influence criminal defense and how different crimes might be charged if you were involved. We handle criminal defense with many of those different crimes, and it's our job as one of the top criminal lawyers in Buffalo, NY, to inform readers about what this all means. We are here to teach and to help, not to judge. 

In this blog, we will break down how social media and the internet affect criminal defense and which crimes they affect the most.

Criminal Defense Influenced by Social Media

We want to start by explaining in the simplest terms how social media and other aspects of the internet can affect criminal defense for both positive and negative reasons. 

From the perspective of if we are on trial, the prosecution is allowed to use our social media posts, pictures, and chat messages as evidence to build their case. A defense attorney is also allowed to use them to challenge the prosecution's evidence or find other useful information needed for the case. It can even help with your alibi, which is a defense to a criminal charge alleging that the accused was somewhere other than at the scene of the crime at the time it occurred.

A strong, credible alibi could be enough to lead the case to an acquittal, which is a formal judgment in a criminal case finding a defendant not guilty of the charges. Now, an acquittal does not necessarily mean you are not guilty of a crime; it just means that, as a result of legal rulings, a judge can dismiss the case for insufficient evidence. The use of social media and other internet platforms makes it easier for both sides of the trial to plead their cases on behalf of the defense or prosecution.

We mentioned how your social media posts, photos, and chat messages can be used as evidence for the prosecution; it can be used to help disprove your alibi, but it can also be used to help establish a timeline. This increases a prosecution's ability to nail down their side of the case if things make sense by when they happened. It would loosen the defense's case for their side of the trial and allow a ruling to be made a lot quicker than normal.

Social media can also sway jury impartiality and trial fairness. At the end of the day, there's usually a jury that will be involved in the charges given to someone for the crime they committed. That's something you have to be aware of when this eventually goes to trial. There are people ready to give a sentence, and what gets posted online can affect their judgment, whether in your defense or otherwise.

On a more positive side, another benefit of how this helps the defense is that it could be used to challenge a prosecution's credibility or claims, which would then lead to them overstating their motive. This allows the defense to demonstrate "reasonable doubt," leading to a reduced charge, a mistrial, or an acquittal, as we mentioned already. 

There are pros and cons all around to how social media and the internet influence a criminal trial, and we want to make sure you are able to learn about how it's ever-changing with the rules and laws established in the justice system.

How Social Media and Internet Usage Affect Crimes

So now that we've established the gist of what this can do for the trial, let's run through how specific crimes like DUI/DWI and domestic violence are affected by it:

DUI/DWI/DWAI

We already mentioned the idea of social media establishing a timeline of events. This would help show the person charged with a DUI or DWI as intoxicated and prove guilt immediately. Sometimes when people are drunk, they tend to pull out their phones and post about their experience through chat messages or pictures of someone holding a bottle while driving. This can be used as evidence for the prosecution for their side of the case.

Privacy and protection are two things that social media simply don't allow for. Aside from the fact that you can still retrieve photos on your camera that were deleted or allow law enforcement to look through private photo albums, once it's on social media and the internet, it's there forever. Deleting posts or photos from your phone might also get that person in trouble, even if they weren't the one charged with the DUI or DWI. It would be considered tampering with evidence and would give the prosecution even more power in the trial.

Learn more about these crimes here: DUI/DWI Defense

Domestic Violence Crimes

Domestic violence is a very serious crime, and social media and other internet platforms can allow abusers to continue their harmful behavior there. Abusers can use it to publicly humiliate their victims through revenge pornography or disparaging comments. It allows them to stalk the victims if, say, the victim was trying to leave and now can't because of these tactics from the abuser.

Back in 2019, former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law criminalizing revenge porn. This law makes the distribution of intimate images punishable by up to a year in jail, and helps victims bring the perpetrators of this crime to civil court. We know how difficult this type of crime can be to discuss, but we want you to know that you can ask any questions you want, and we will give you the answers. It's not our job to judge; it's our job to teach and defend.

Learn more about these crimes here: Domestic Violence Defense

These are examples of where social media is most commonly used in crimes, and we want to make sure you know how it works. It's not until a crime is committed that you realize that a factor like social media can influence it in either direction for the defense or the prosecution. 

We know this is a topic you'll want to learn more about, so please do reach out to us if you have questions or need a DUI/DWI and domestic violence lawyer. Our contact page is the best way to get in touch with us, or you can give us a call. We look forward to helping!

DISCLAIMER: PAST RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE FUTURE RESULTS. THIS BLOG POST IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, DANIEL DUBOIS AND/OR ANY DUBOIS LAW ATTORNEY(S) ARE NOT YOUR ATTORNEY(S) UNLESS RETAINED. INFORMATION SHARED HERE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. EACH CASE IS UNIQUE AND IS DECIDED BASED ON ITS OWN FACTS AND MERITS AND CANNOT BE COMPARED TO OTHER CASES WHICH MAY HAVE HAD DIFFERENT FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES.