In our modern digital age, all kinds of evidence exist on your phone, in your various online accounts, and on your other devices. Even your car might have digital interfaces or navigation systems with possible evidence that could be used against you. The way this evidence is used often varies, and certain laws might restrict access to and use of some evidence.
If you are accused of murder, manslaughter, or another homicide crime, digital evidence such as your text messages, browser history, device contents, camera roll, social media posts, and more can all be used against you. Typically, navigation/map data can be used to place your device at a certain location at a certain time, messages can reveal motive/intent, and device/browser history can show what you were looking up prior to potentially using that info in the murder. However, some evidence must be barred under certain rules.
Call our Utah murder and manslaughter defense lawyers at Overson Law at (801) 758-2287 for a free case evaluation on your potential case.
How Various Types of Digital Evidence Are Used in Murder Cases
Digital evidence can often come from many sources, but it can be broken down into a few common categories based on what the evidence shows and how the prosecution tries to use it. Keep in mind that there might be issues collecting or using some of these pieces of digital evidence, and our Lehi, UT murder and manslaughter defense lawyers discuss some of them later in this article.
Location Data
Many people do not know that Google Maps and similar apps on their devices track the device’s location in the background unless you change the settings. As such, your cell phone might have a location history, showing everywhere you’ve been and when you were there. This can obviously be quite incriminating evidence if the police seize this data and it shows you went to the victim’s house, then to the location where the body was found, then to the location where a bloody car was found, then back home, for example.
Today, some cars also have location data, not just cell phones.
Messages/Conversations
Conversations you had with others can be used to show a few different things, from basic to more complex. First, they can show you knew the other person or detail what your relationship with them was like. Second, they can show potential reasons for disagreement or wanting to hurt the other person – who might be the alleged victim. Third, they can show other details about what you knew and when you knew it. Perhaps the most complicated use is to show your plans.
For example, if you assert that the victim was a stranger, text messages might reveal you were dating them, and that you had a fight the day before their death.
Browser/Search History
Access to your browsing data or search history can often show that you were looking up incriminating information, such as how to hide a body. For example, a famous case out of Utah saw a woman charged with murdering her husband by giving him fentanyl in his Moscow Mule after her browser history revealed she was allegedly searching for info about fentanyl dosages, poisoning deaths, and insurance money.
Pictures/Photos
A picture is worth a thousand words, and photos often reveal information. Photos from your camera roll might place you in a location or with certain people at certain times, potentially feeding into evidence. Additionally, photos from the victim’s phone or a witness’ phone might show your car or even you in a suspicious place at a suspicious time.
Security Footage
Security footage has been used as evidence in cases for a long time, and the fact that it is now digital makes it even easier for police to obtain security footage and use it against you. In fact, many businesses and homes have cheap security cameras now, potentially increasing the amount of incriminating security footage available to the police.
Ways to Challenge Digital Evidence in Utah Murder and Manslaughter Cases
Evidence can be blocked for various reasons, and even if it cannot be kept out of the case entirely, we might be able to show that it is weak or circumstantial, reducing its effectiveness.
Your Device Wasn’t On You
Many criminal cases hinge on the jury believing that the defendant’s phone was in a certain location and thus, the defendant must have been in that location, too. However, phones can be stolen or misplaced, and it is always possible that your phone might have been at a suspicious location because someone took it, potentially in an attempt to frame you. Especially if you reported your phone stolen, it could be difficult for them to prove you were with your phone at the crime scene.
Hearsay and Privilege
Conversations often cannot be used in court because of hearsay rules. Hearsay is any statement made outside of the courtroom offered as evidence that what the statement says is true. For example, a text message saying, “I just saw [the victim] at the bar and she was fine,” cannot be used as evidence that the speaker saw the victim at the bar or that she was indeed fine. They must instead get the texter into court as a witness and have them say what they knew or personally witnessed under oath.
There are some exceptions that allow statements to be used for other reasons or allow some statements – such as the defendant’s statements – to be used in court. However, a dead victim’s statements might have no excuse allowing them in.
Additionally, conversations with a spouse, therapist, or lawyer might be privileged and unusable (assuming, of course, that you are not on trial for killing your spouse, therapist, or lawyer, in which case that would likely break privilege).
Misidentification
If the government tries to admit photos or video that would incriminate you, but they are actually photos/videos of someone else, we may be able to get the evidence blocked or at least introduce experts to show how this identification is flawed.
Illegal Seizure
Police and prosecutors have to follow laws for seizing evidence, including getting warrants. If they obtain evidence illegally, it can be blocked.
Call Our Utah Murder and Manslaughter Defense Attorneys Today
For a free evaluation of your potential case, call our Ogden, UT murder and manslaughter defense attorneys at Overson Law today at (801) 758-2287.
