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Third Circuit Sets Standard for Facebook Chat Evidence

By P.J. D'Annunzio
September 01, 2016

Rejecting the appeal of a convicted child molester who used Facebook to exchange explicit photos of minors, a federal appeals court clarified how online chats can be authenticated as criminal evidence.

Grappling with an issue of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a preponderance of the evidence ' including testimony from federal agents and victims ' showed that defendant Tony Browne did create messages containing nude photos of minors obtained through coercion. Browne, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, claimed that prosecutors couldn't prove he authored the messages. See, U.S. v. Tony Jefferson Browne, No. 14-1798 (3d Cir. Aug. 25, 2016).

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