United States v. Lamm, No. 20-1128 (8th Cir. 2021)
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Defendant distributed, received, produced, and possessed child pornography using two separate Facebook accounts: one under his name, and the other under the fictitious name Mike Malone. After the Government tried to authenticate evidence from Facebook using certified records, the district court required additional circumstantial evidence tying defendant to the Malone account before ultimately admitting the evidence. Defendant appealed the district court's admission of the evidence and the denial of his request to question witnesses at trial.
The Eighth Circuit agreed with the Third and Seventh Circuits that the Government may authenticate social media evidence with circumstantial evidence linking the defendant to the social media account, which the Government did here. In this case, the evidence taken together, provided a rational basis for the district court to pass the question of authentication to the jury. The court also concluded that Facebook messages between defendant and another person, the Malone account, and a minor provided context for defendant's responses and his connection to the Malone account and were not hearsay. Finally, the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing defendant's request for hybrid representation. The court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: [Kobes, Author, with Shepherd and Stras, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The government may authenticate social media evidence with circumstantial evidence linking the defendant to the social media account, and the evidence the government produced, such as linking defendant's cell phone to both accounts and showing that images from defendant's Facebook account appeared in the false identity Facebook account, provided a rational basis for the district court to pass the question of authentication to the jury; Facebook messages between defendant's accounts and other participants in the creation and distribution of the child pornography were admissible even though neither of the senders testified at trial; the messages were admitted to show context for defendant's responses and not for the truth of the matters asserted or to show defendant received child pornography; the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing defendant's request for hybrid representation.
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