Feb. 11 – EvidenceProf Blog
Prof. Colin Miller authored blog post
Back in October 2010, I posted an entry about the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland finding in Griffin v. State, 2010 WL 2105801 (Md.App. 2010), that the prosecution properly authenticated a MySpace page as one belonging to the defendant’s girlfriend pursuant to distinctive characteristics under Maryland Rule of Evidence 5-901(b)(4). Then, last May, I posted an entry about the opinion of the Court of Appeals of Maryland (the state’s supreme court), in Griffin v. State, 2011 WL 1586683 (Md. 2011), in which the court reversed the Court of Special Appeals and found that distinctive characteristics were insufficient to authenticate the MySpace page. Recently, in Tienda v. State, 2012 WL 385381 (Tex.Crim.App. 2012), the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas reviewed a ruling in which a court relied solely upon the opinion of the Court of Special Appeals of Maryand in Griffin to find that a MySpace page was properly authenticated. SO, how did the court rule?
Read more: It’s My Space, That’s Why They Call it MySpace, Take 7