|
| In this undated photo posted on Instagram, George Zimmerman defense attorney Don West, right, eats ice cream with his daughters. Prosecutors have asked a judge in the George Zimmerman trial to conduct an inquiry into the Instagram photo, but the lawyer said Tuesday, July 2, 2013, that it was unrelated to testimony in the case. Social media has become inextricably tied to daily life, a fact reflected by its presence in Zimmerman's murder trial. The trial is a top trend almost daily, with thousands of people tweeting their thoughts with the hashtag #ZimmermanTrial. |
SANFORD, Fla.
(AP) -- Trayvon Martin's fatal shooting garnered worldwide attention
when the man who fatally shot him wasn't arrested for weeks - a backlash
fueled largely by social media. Now, social media sites such as Twitter
and Facebook have permeated George Zimmerman's trial both inside and
outside the courtroom.
A witness who testified
via Skype was inundated with calls from other users on the
Internet-based phone service, and a defense attorney was tripped up by a
photo his daughter posted on Instagram. Jurors and witnesses have been
grilled about their postings and whom they follow.
Social
media has become inextricably tied to daily life, a fact reflected by
its presence in Zimmerman's murder trial. The trial is a top trend
almost daily, with thousands of people tweeting their thoughts with the
hashtag (hash)ZimmermanTrial. Witnesses have tweeted about their
testimony, including Martin's friend Rachel Jeantel, who after tense
questioning became the brunt of spoof accounts poking fun at her candid
statements and dialect.
It's not the first
time social media has become the backbone of a high-profile criminal
case: Casey Anthony's trial on charges she murdered her 2-year-old
daughter, Caylee, was closely watched, too. Photos posted on social
media accounts showing Anthony's partying in the days after her
daughter's disappearance became a key point in the case.
Zimmerman,
a former neighborhood watch volunteer, has pleaded not guilty to
second-degree murder and says he shot the unarmed 17-year-old Martin in
self-defense during a scuffle in the townhome complex where he lived and
Martin was visiting his father.
Among the
first to publicize the story was nationally syndicated radio host
Michael Baisden, who sent a message to his 65,000 Twitter followers and
585,000 Facebook fans: "Unarmed 17-year-old boy shot by neighborhood
watch captain in Sanford, FL outside of Orlando." It provided a link to a
story. Soon afterward, Martin's parents started an online petition on
Change.org demanding Zimmerman's arrest. It generated more than 2.2
million signatures.
The trial began with
attorneys scouring potential jurors' profiles, using Facebook postings
to keep two off the jury. Witnesses haven't been immune, either, a fact
Zimmerman's lead defense attorney recently acknowledged.
"So
it's been an amazing sort of umbrella in this case, the whole sort of
social media presence, and what it means both in investigation, to
interaction, to now having to react to it as lawyer," attorney Mark
O'Mara recently told reporters.
Zimmerman's
team was no stranger to social media before the trial began, using
Twitter and a website to raise money for his defense and make public
statements. Still, experts say the legal profession is still catching up
to technology so easily accessed on smartphones.
"The
law is always a little bit behind, or sometimes a lot behind, the rest
of the culture, so the law is still trying to figure out whether or not
we should be treating social media as a given," said Mary Anne Franks, a
law professor at the University of Miami Law School. "It's really
unsettled right now. But the impulse seems to be, yes, look at
everything you can because the more information, the better."
Those involved in the Zimmerman case appear to have been tripped up by social media on at least two occasions.
While
questioning Jenna Lauer, a former neighbor of Zimmerman who testified
she heard screams for help outside her townhome, prosecutor Bernie de la
Rionda accused her of following Zimmerman's brother on Twitter. After
taking a look at a Twitter page de la Rionda had pulled up on a
computer, Lauer had to explain to him that it was Zimmerman's brother
following her.
"I apologize," de la Rionda said.
On
the defense side, an Instagram photo posted by attorney Don West's
daughter became the subject of a prosecution motion for an inquiry.
Prosecutors said the photo showing West eating ice cream with his
daughters was posted after West's tense cross-examination with
prosecution witness Rachel Jeantel last week. The caption read, "We beat
stupidity celebration cones" and "dadkilledit." West said in a court
filing.
Tuesday that the photo was taken a day before Jeantel testified
and has nothing to do with her testimony. He called the prosecution's
motion irresponsible and said he had nothing to do with the posting of
the photo or its caption.
Lawyers in routine
cases typically don't have time to scour the social media sites of
potential jurors, though it has become more commonplace in highly
publicized cases. It has become more common practice to vet the accounts
of witnesses, as their posts may expose particular biases, motives or
contradictions in their testimony, said David Hill, an Orlando criminal
defense attorney.
"Like it or not, when it
comes to Facebook and social media, it may not just be Big Brother
watching you, but your friendly neighborhood criminal defense attorney,"
he said.
