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Facebook Alibi: Man's Status Keeps Him Out of Jail

by Caleb Johnson on November 12, 2009 at 02:25 PM


We've heard of Facebook leading to arrests, but now there's a flip side to the story of social networking and the law. Today, a man can thank Facebook for keeping him out of jail. According to The New York Times, defense lawyers used Rodney Bradford's status update as an alibi when he was arrested in connection with an October 17th robbery. Lawyers say the update, which read "Where's my pancakes," was posted from a computer in the Harlem apartment of Bradford's father at the exact time the robbery in question occurred.

Lawyers subpoenaed the site's records to make sure Bradford's story held water. It did, and the charges were dropped (although Bradford faces previous robbery charges, too). However, some worry that anybody could've entered the man's user name and password and posted the update for him. "[Teenagers]...could develop an alibi," said Joseph Pollini, a law teacher at John Jay College. "They watch television, the movies, there is a multitude of reasons why someone of that age would have the knowledge to do a crime like that."

If you ask us, a guy that's posting updates about pancakes probably isn't a criminal mastermind. Now, if an IHOP gets robbed, the cops might want to ask Bradford a few more questions. [From: The New York Times]

Tags: crime, facebook, law, socialnetworking, status update, StatusUpdate, top, web

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