Federal court rules that Myspace profile is inadmissible character evidence
Souksakhone Phaknikone was convicted of robbing seven banks in Northeast Georgia between November 2006 and March 2007. At trial, federal prosecutors introduced portions of his Myspace account including photographs and sections of his subscriber report. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta held that the photographs and report were evidence of bad character and therefore inadmissible.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the story.
Phaknikone’s Myspace page portrayed him as a “gangster.” In one image, there was a picture of Phaknikone holding a handgun next to a child. The name on his profile page name was “Trigga” and, when the profile page was first opened, $100 bills floated down the screen. Moreover, his subscriber report listed his full name as “Trigga FullyLoaded” with an email address of “gangsta_trigga@yahoo.com”.
The government attempted to introduce this evidence to show identity and modus operandi. Specifically, the government argued that the evidence showed that Phaknikone robbed the banks “like a gangster”. The district court refused to admit the profile page but allowed the government to introduce a redacted copy of the subscriber report which contained profile photos along with his profile name and email address. In closing, the prosecutor referred to the defendant as “Trigga” and showed the picture of Phaknikone holding a gun.
The court then gave limiting instructions to the jury that the evidence could only be used to prove intent or absence of mistake or accident. The jury convicted Phaknikone on all counts and he was eventually sentenced to 160 years in prison.
On appeal, the 11th Circuit employed a three part test to determine if the district court abused its discretion in admitting the evidence of prior bad acts under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). The first part of this test requires that the evidence be relevant to an issue other than the defendant’s character. The Court determined that the subscriber report only showed Phaknikone’s nickname. It was also determined that the photograph only demonstrated that Phaknikone had possessed a handgun at some point in time. The Court wrote that, “Although the photograph may portray a “gangster-type personality,” the photograph does not evidence the modus operandi of a bank robber who commits his crime with a signature trait”. The Court concluded that these pieces of evidence were classic examples of bad character evidence which should not have been admitted.
The Court, however, also ruled that the district court’s error was harmless and sustained Phaknikone’s conviction and sentence.
Even though a new trial was not awarded, this ruling marks a pivotal step in determining the admissibility of evidence in an age when many people display their entire lives on social networking sites for all the world to see.
