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Are You Being Investigated For a Crime?
It’s understandable that you would want to live your life normally, even when you are being investigated for a crime or have already been charged. However, social media, something many of us use on a daily basis, can actually hinder your defense and give the prosecution more ammunition to use against you.
Tagging that amazing pic or checking into a certain location may seem innocent enough, but your digital fingerprint may be more damaging than you’d think. Luckily, Shane Philips Law is here to guide you through this process and help you understand what you should and shouldn’t do during a criminal investigation.
Read more if you’re curious about how social media impacts criminal investigations. Do you have questions you need an immediate answer to? Call 979-596-6843 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney.
How Does Social Media Affect Criminal Investigations?
Social media platforms have become key tools in criminal investigations. Law enforcement agencies routinely monitor public posts for evidence of criminal activity, suspicious behavior, or inconsistencies in a suspect’s story. Even something as simple as a timestamped photo or location tag can be used to place someone at the scene of a crime or contradict their alibi.
Officers may also use fake profiles to access private accounts or gather information from a suspect’s friends and followers. Comments, direct messages, shared content, and even something as small as emojis can all be introduced as evidence. Once posted, content is rarely ever gone; even deleted posts can be recovered through subpoenas or forensic analysis.
Social media can offer investigators a timeline, motive, or connection between people involved in a crime. In some cases, it’s what starts investigations in the first place.
What Types of Social Media Posts Can Be Used Against You?
What you post online can quickly become a key piece of evidence used against you, even if you believed it was private, deleted, or completely harmless. Prosecutors and investigators regularly comb through social media accounts to look for posts that may indicate guilt, contradict your prior statements, or establish motive and intent.
Here are some of the most common types of posts that can hurt your defense:
- Posts that resemble a confession – Any statement where you admit to being involved in a crime, even as a joke, can be interpreted as a confession.
- Photos or videos at the scene of the crime – Media that places you near or at the location of an alleged crime, especially when they include timestamps or geotags, can undermine your alibi and expose your actual location.
- Posts that contradict your story – If you claimed to be somewhere else or sober at the time of the alleged crime, but your posts suggest otherwise, it can lead the prosecution to use that contradiction to discredit you.
- Threats or hostile messages – Private messages or public comments that show animosity toward a victim or witness can support charges related to motive, intent, or intimidation.
- Deleted or edited posts – Attempting to cover your tracks can be used to suggest consciousness of guilt, especially if those posts were relevant to the case.
- Screenshots from other people – Even if you delete something, others may have taken a screenshot or re-shared it, making it retrievable during an investigation.
Investigators can and will use these types of posts to build timelines and establish associations and patterns that may unfold how your case unfolds in court.
Should You Delete Your Social Media Posts?
If you’ve been arrested or are under investigation, your first instinct may be to delete anything even remotely related from your social media account. This can actually backfire in some serious ways.
It may be obstruction – Deleting posts during an active investigation can be seen as an attempt to hide evidence. In some cases, this could lead to additional charges, especially if authorities believe you’re interfering with the investigation.
Deleted doesn’t mean gone – Law enforcement agencies have digital forensics tools that can recover deleted content. And if someone else already took screenshots or shared your post, it’s still out there and admissible in court.
Deleting posts can imply guilt – Even if your intentions were innocent, deleting posts after an arrest might be interpreted as a sign of a guilty conscience, especially by a prosecutor looking to build a narrative.
The better option is to stop posting altogether and consult an attorney before modifying or deleting anything from your accounts. Let our legal team guide you on how to handle your digital footprint in a safe way.
How Can a Criminal Defense Attorney Help You Understand the Impact of Social Media On a Case?
Social media can either hurt your defense or help you build it. It all depends on how it’s handled. A criminal defense attorney knows how to review your online presence for anything the prosecution might try to use against you, and just as importantly, how to use digital content in your favor. Maybe your posts show you were somewhere else at the time of the alleged offense, or your messages tell a different story from what the prosecution claims. An experienced defense attorney can analyze your social media activity, advise you on what not to do moving forward, and prevent avoidable mistakes that can and will derail your case.
At Shane Phelps Law, we understand how critical digital evidence has become in modern criminal cases. Let us help you protect your rights and your freedom by using every available resource to build your case. Call 979-596-6843 to schedule your free consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney today.
