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Friday, February 25, 2011
Ind. Courts - "Appeals Court Tackles Tough Social Media Questions"
It took place on Thursday, February 24th at 3:00 PM
Lamar M. Crawford v. State of Indiana (49A05-1006-CR-377) - Appellant, Lamar Crawford, appeals his conviction for Murder, wherein he received an 85 year sentence. Crawford presents us with two issues on appeal: First, he contends that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his request for production of film footage captured by a non-party television company documenting the investigation. In response, the State argues that Crawford's request was not particular enough for the trial court to grant. Second, Crawford argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for murder because there was nothing in the evidence that directly contradicted his theory that an intruder stabbed and murdered his uncle while Crawford helped defend his uncle. The Scheduled Panel Members are: Chief Judge Robb, Judges Riley and Kirsch. [Where: Goodrich Room of the Lilly Library, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana]Here is the writeup from the same afternoon, reported by Howard W. Hewitt on the Wabash College website. From the story:
Three judges of the Indiana Court of Appeals made their annual visit Thursday to Wabash College to hear an oral argument in a real case and answer student questions.A post question-answer period was dominated largely by the emergence of social media and its admission in courts. The justices took turns making the point that it is a new field. Robb, Indiana's first female chief judge in the court's 100 year history, explained that a contributing factor is a person's expectations of privacy.
She said a student with a cell phone, Facebook page, and Twitter account might have a different expectation of privacy than someone any of the judges' ages - who may or might not have similar social media tools.
The three judges also took the time to talk about court procedures and their daily work week. Of course, they would not comment on the oral argument which preceded the questions.
They heard a brief oral argument concerning evidence in a murder case. The case was the object of a television story taped by a private production company for the Discovery Channel. The defense requested and received some footage during the court trial but not all. That was the issue being appealed.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 25, 2011 09:28 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts