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Is a digital alibi worth using?

One of the things that people can often rely on in criminal defense is a good alibi. A good alibi can go the distance toward helping you avoid penalties. However, not all alibis are made equal.

The prosecution has to do all they can to disprove your alibi or to show that the alibi isn’t truthful. If your alibi is a person, they might have their story manipulated to do this.

What about if your alibi isn’t a person, though?

Social media and connectivity have created digital alibis that many never would have thought about in the past. Facebook evidence of an alibi might help you, for example, if you were sending messages to someone at the time of a crime. Similarly, a video chat record or cellphone location record could both help place you somewhere other than where the crime took place.

To use social media or digital tools to improve your defense, you’re going to have to have more than just a simple message or electronic location; if that’s all you have, someone will argue that it’s manipulated to make you look innocent. You’ll have to get proof that the message was sent from your computer or device. You’ll need to show that the accounts used are yours. Most importantly, you have to be able to show that no one else could have posted on your behalf or used your phone any distance away from you.

These are a few things to consider if you want to use social media as an alibi. It can be a possibility, but only with enough proof that you posted or had your phone with you.