social media. criminal defense

We live in the age of the internet, social media, and video games. People are becoming less social in real time and are becoming more and more addicted to their YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram accounts. During social media chats and brawls, individuals often lose all connection with reality and act out their fantasies. Sometimes those fantasies can take on a dark and sinister turns. The internet has become a place where individuals and roving mobs have videotaped themselves committing crimes and then uploading their “confessions” to the crime for the entire world to see.

Violent Crimes Uploaded on Social Media

In 2013, a Florida man by the name of Derek Medina, murdered his wife and upload pictures of her body on Facebook for all his friends to see. During his trial he asserted that he shot his wife in self-defense in that she was threatening him with a knife. Evidence showed to the contrary. Medina shot his wife eight times while she was cowering on the floor. There also appeared to be evidence that he had planned to kill her if she left him. These ongoing battles between Medina and his wife were shared with their friends on Facebook.