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Admissibility of Facebook Evidence: Delaware Edition



Parker v. State of Delaware - Delaware Supreme Court

Facts:  Note:  The facts of this case dealt with an assault (non-employment related) and subsequent Facebook posts by the alleged attacker, Parker, in regard to the assault.  At trial, the State of Delaware sought to introduce the Facebook posts into evidence.  Over Parker's objections, the trial court admitted the Facebook posts into evidence and the jury convicted her.  The Superior Court adopted the Texas approach in regard to the introduction of the Facebook posts.  Parker appealed.

Holding:  The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision to adopt the Texas approach in regard to the introduction of the Facebook posts and affirmed the lower court's ruling.  The Supreme Court distinguished between the Texas and Maryland approaches to the introduction of social media evidence at trial.

  • The Texas approach (from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals case Tienda v. State) provides that when a party seeks to introduce social media evidence at trial, any form of verification under the Rules of Evidence can be used to authenticate it.  This is a much easier legal standard for the proponent of evidence to clear.  
  • The Maryland approach (from the Maryland Court of Appeals case Griffin v. State) provides that when a party seeks to introduce social media evidence at trial, the proponent must introduce some sort of evidence to show the posts are authentic.  Supporters of this approach point to the fact that social media posts can be faked or inauthentic, and this heightened evidentiary standard protects against the introduction of improper evidence.

After review of these two different standards, the Supreme Court held that the Texas approach is the proper way to authenticate social media evidence.  Consequently, the lower court's decision to adhere to the Texas approach, in regard to the introduction of Parker's Facebook posts, was held to be proper and the conviction was upheld.

The Takeaway:  By following the approach adopted by Texas, Delaware has clarified that social media evidence should be treated like any other type of evidence.  When an employer seeks to introduce social media evidence at trial, any form of verification under the Rules of Evidence can be used to authenticate it.  Rather than requiring the proponent to offer evidence to demonstrate that a social media post is authentic, this standard adopted by Delaware should make it easier for the proponent to introduce the evidence at trial.  

Given the increasing number of times that social media evidence such as Facebook and Twitter posts are being introduced by employers as evidence at trial, this ruling makes it easier to authenticate the evidence and actually get it into trial.

Judgment:  The Delaware Supreme Court established that that when a party seeks to introduce social media evidence at trial, any form of verification under the Rules of Evidence can be used to authenticate it. 

Majority Opinion Judge:  Judge Ridgely

Date:  February 5, 2014

Opinion:  http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?ID=200710

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