Tag:Admissibility

Key Insight: Images of child pornography produced by ISPs to government were properly authenticated by testimony of ISPs? legal assistants who were familiar with the process for collecting those images and the reliability and accuracy of the servers and who testified that the images offered into evidence were the same as those collected and that the images had been traced to the defendant?s computer; court reasoned that ?[i]t is not necessary for the Government to produce the actual ISP searchers in order to comply with the requirements of the Sixth Amendment?

Nature of Case: Criminal

Electronic Data Involved: Images of child pornography

Key Insight: Conviction reversed and case remanded where trial court abused its discretion by admitting text messages found on the defendant?s cell phone without providing any evidence to establish that the defendant was the author of the at-issue messages, particularly where several messages referred to the defendant in the third person and ?and thus, were clearly not written by her?; court also found the text messages constituted inadmissible hearsay

Nature of Case: Drug conviction

Electronic Data Involved: Text messages

Key Insight: Where a computer analyst made a backup image of certain files on defendant?s computer and returned the laptop to defendant?s employer, who proceeded to look through the files, etc. before supplying the backup image and the laptop to the FBI, and where the FBI then made an image of the backup image and an image of the entire laptop, the court held that the image of the backup image, reflecting some of the contents of the laptop before the employer looked through the laptop?s files, could be admitted as proof of what the FBI obtained from the employer AND as evidence of some of the contents of the laptop (the backup image did not include the entire contents of the laptop); court held that FBI?s image of the whole laptop (taken after the employer had looked through the files, etc. and thus changed metadata, etc.) could be admitted as evidence of what was obtained by the FBI from the employer, but cold not be offered to prove the contents of the laptop while in defendant?s possession

Nature of Case: Theft of trade secrets

Electronic Data Involved: Backup image and image of contents of laptop

Key Insight: Court found admission of two documents derived from information stored on computers as ?business records? was proper where evidence established the data was created and stored in the relevant information system at the time of the transaction at issued, where the data was created and used by merchants in usual course of their business, and where sufficient testimony was presented to ?give adequate reason to trust the authenticity of the documents?

Nature of Case: Conviction for attempted uttering (cashing a forged check)

Electronic Data Involved: Hard copy business records “derived from information stored on computers”

Key Insight: Supreme court affirmed admission of ?membership data reports? generated from plaintiff?s database as business records and rejected defendant?s arguments that they lacked the necessary guarantees of trustworthiness where the records were relied upon in the usual course of business and where evidence indicated the software had been calibrated to ensure accuracy, among other things, and where the records were properly authenticated by testimony regarding the manner in which they were created and evidence the system had been producing accurate results

Nature of Case: Breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: ?Membership data reports? generated from plaintiff?s database

Key Insight: Relying on precedent stating that ?computer-generated data is not hearsay because there is no human declarant?, appellate court held that trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting a document detailing the number of times a particular coupon had been scanned where testimony established that the information in the printout was automatically generated, that the information was safe from alteration while stored in the relevant computer system, that the information had not been altered, and that the computer from which the information was generated was not malfunctioning

Nature of Case: Theft

Electronic Data Involved: Printout of computer generated data

Key Insight: Court found email had not been properly authenticated where the email was not self authenticating and where the email was a purely internal communication between employees of a third party company and thus could not be authenticated by the defense witness who was not an employee of that company, was not listed as a recipient of the email, and testified that he had never seen the document before

Nature of Case: Adversarial action in Bankruptcy

Electronic Data Involved: Email