Facebook 'mood' could land you in court

[OMEN]

Be careful how you set your mood on MySpace, your status on Facebook and never post dumb comments on video sites because it all can and will be used against you in a court of law.

That at least is the experience of New York police officer and amateur body builder Vaughan Ettienne who has been out-manoeuvred by a canny legal aid lawyer.

Using evidence drawn from the policeman's online social networking activities, Adrian Lesher of the Legal Aid Society cast enough doubt on the policeman's character to have a jury dismiss a serious charge against his client, Gary Waters.

According to a report in The New York Times, Waters, who was on parole after being convicted of burglary, appeared before a jury in Brooklyn this week facing the charge of carrying a loaded weapon.

It was Officer Ettienne's claim that when he arrested Waters in 2006, the accused had been carrying a fully loaded 9mm Beretta pistol, an extra 15-bullet magazine, 27 loose rounds, and a pair of handcuffs.

But the defendant's lawyer told the jury that the gun had been planted on his client as an excuse for breaking his ribs during the arrest.

Lesher dug up evidence to show that the day before the arrest, Ettienne, had set his "mood indicator" on his MySpace page to "devious".

The setting is one of 122 moods ranging from "annoyed" and "bitchy" to "quixotic" and "weird". The "devious" setting comes with an angry, red emoticon - a graphic representation of a facial expression - which is being licked by flames.

Lesher also told the court that in the lead-up to the trail, the beefy policeman had set his status on his Facebook page to: "Vaughan is watching 'Training Day' to brush up on proper police procedure.''

Training Day is the 2001 movie starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in which Washington plays the part of Alonzo Harris, a highly-decorated but bent Los Angeles police narcotics officer.

"The defence lawyer brings up Training Day like I was trying to emulate Denzel,'' Ettienne told the Times.

"He ties the defence to the story in the movie. It was a masterful piece of fantasy, but it was one that the jury bought."

Some clever sleuthing by the defence lawyer also turned up incriminating comments made by Ettienne on the UselessJunk video sharing site.

One of a pile of comments listed under a 2007 video titled 'Cop Slugs Handcuffed Suspect' was one from "Blakryno", Etienne's online moniker.

The comment read: "If he wanted to tune him up some, he should have delayed cuffing him ... If you were going to hit a cuffed suspect, at least get your money's worth 'cause now he's going to get disciplined for a faggot-ass love tap."

Nick Abrahams, a partner at the Sydney office of law firm Deacons who specialises in technology and media law, said the case reminded him about a famous New Yorker magazine cartoon which shows a dog at a computer accompanied by the words "on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog".

"... this anonymity just doesn't apply anymore. Everyone is accountable for their actions online now," he said. "The internet has come of age and the anonymity has gone."

While Ettienne has never been accused of brutality, he was suspended along with six other officers in 2007 after testing positive for steroids, according to a report in the Village Voice newspaper.

Initially, the defence had sought to use the steroid-taking as evidence that the injuries inflicted on the accused were as a result of "roid rage".

But in the end, it was the evidence of Ettienne's web-based social networking activities which convinced the jury to acquit Waters on the more serious charge and downgrade the conviction to one of resisting arrest.

Ettienne told the Times his internet persona did not reflect his actions as a police officer.

"You have your internet persona, and you have what you actually do on the street ... what you say on the internet is all bravado talk, like what you say in a locker room.

"I'm not going to say it was the best of things to do in retrospect,'' Ettienne said. "...stupidity on the internet is there for everyone to see for all times in perpetuity. That's the case for me."

SMH

[LiquidThor]

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[John]

Thanks for the read.