I had read about the use of social networking during discovery, particularly defense attorneys looking for Facebook and other social networking postings that contradict the plaintiff’s claims but I didn’t know that social networking was also playing a role in the sentencing of defendants as well.
This article explains that it can both help and hinder the defendant’s cause and they cite a recent case where a defendant’s claims of contrition were undercut by postings on her MySpace page to the contrary. However, the article goes on to show that a defendant’s message to his Facebook friends asking them to submit character references on his behalf to the judge. Did it work? The man did receive a prison sentence two years shy of the federal guidelines.
Tags: Facebook, Lawsuits, Linkedin, Litigation, sentencing, social networking
