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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Courts - Tips on "Managing the electronic communication revolution in the Indiana courtroom"

Miriam Rozen of the Texas Lawyer reports today on three Texas judges and how they use social network sites to help them do their jobs. This lengthy article is highly recommended by the ILB, and supplements earlier entries. Here are a few snippets.

The first judge,. Judge Susan Criss of Galveston, is a Facebook regular:

[S]he has one page she uses for personal and professional networking purposes. She says she started "friending" lawyers on Facebook to network and possibly to campaign in the future. (Friends generally can see what other friends post on their Facebook pages.) But Criss steers clear of what may be perceived as online ex parte communications by asking lawyers who represent parties in her courtroom to "de-friend" her when a trial commences.

In her six months on Facebook, Criss has read all sorts of surprising comments posted by litigants and lawyers. "I've seen witnesses talk [on Facebook] about a case they are going to testify on. I've seen litigants bragging about anticipating making a lot of money. Those words can be used in front of a jury to cross-examine them," Criss says.

When Criss sees such comments on Facebook, she says she alerts lawyers on both sides. "Lawyers need to talk to their clients from the very beginning to find out what they have put on the Web," she says.

Recently, Criss has devised instructions for jurors that she issues before testimony in a trial begins. At that point, Criss says she tells jurors that they should not post anything online about their courtroom experience other than that they are serving on a jury and when they expect to be done. She says she also asks jurors which social network sites they use to "make sure jurors aren't going to be on Facebook talking about how this or that lawyer is an idiot."

Criss now worries -- with texting and various other forms of electronic communications -- about jurors engaging in such behavior in her courtroom right under her nose. "I also need to make sure they are not texting during the trial when they are sitting in the jury box," she says.

The section about the second, Judge Kathryn Lanan, begins:
For the past two years Lanan, a juvenile court referee who presides over detention and adjudication hearings at the Galveston Juvenile Justice Center in Texas City, has required all juveniles under her court's jurisdiction to become her "friend" on Facebook or MySpace, thereby allowing her to view their postings (and them to view hers) or to fix their online settings so that all members may view the juveniles' pages, not just friends. Lanan, who has been on the bench since 2006, says she prefers that the juveniles "friend" her out of concern for their privacy.
The section re the third judge is shorter, but equally valuable:
Judge Orlinda Naranjo of Travis County's 419th District Court does not have a Facebook or MySpace page. "I don't want to participate in that, thank you," says Naranjo, who has served on the district court for three years and previously as judge of Travis County Court-at-Law No. 2 for 11 years.

But in the family law cases over which she presides, the judge says more attorneys are introducing evidence related to social networking sites and texting. "I see it in discovery requests. I see it in hearings. It is not commonplace yet. But I think it will be," Naranjo says.

In 2006, Texas became one of the first states in the nation to adopt rules governing the admission of evidence in civil proceedings obtained from social networking sites and individuals' pages on such sites, as well as from texting and other electronic communications.

"We are seeing more and more family law cases with allegations about a person being stalked by receiving 25 or 50 texts a day, or complaining about what a spouse has put on Facebook," Naranjo says. Such evidence helps her make decisions, especially in child-custody matters.

For example, during a recent custody case, a father's lawyer introduced paper copies of his ex-wife's craigslist postings as evidence of her involvement in clubs and organizations that could be detrimental to their child, Naranjo says. That evidence contributed to the judge's decision to grant temporary custody to the dad.

In another custody case, Naranjo says, a father had alleged that his daughter posted scantily clad photos of herself on her MySpace page and bragged about using a fake ID for underage drinking. The father alleged that the images illustrated that the mother did not appropriately supervise the child. "The images underscored how this mother didn't have any idea of what was going on in this girl's life. It was a very effective tool," says Naranjo, who granted the father temporary custody.

"I am just amazed what people put out there for the world to see. They are talking about smoking dope and doing drugs. It's discoverable. All of that is so easily discoverable."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 25, 2009 10:26 AM
Posted to Courts in general