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Jill Daly, reporting at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

On Thursday, a woman told police her son had a copy of a Snapchat photo sent from the accused. Jeannette Sgt. Donald Johnston saw the photo, depicting the wounded victim in the chair as found by his mother. It also depicted a young man taking a “selfie” with the victim in the background. The photo had the name “MAXWELL” across the top and the young man was identified by Sgt. Johnston as Maxwell Morton.

The inapplicability of words like “ephemeral” and “private” to Snapchat is well-documented. But it’s not common knowledge, and this suspect’s use of the app to send photos of the deceased victim, including one of the suspect posing with the decedent, illustrates the consequences of that ignorance.

An interesting side effect of the prevalence of photo sharing apps incorrectly seen as ephemeral or private is the preservation of a photographic record of the crime or its aftermath. It’s safe to say that the selfie in question would damage the defense’s case if introduced at trial. This case involved a third-party recipient of the photos, whose mother volunteered the photos to the police, negating the need to obtain a warrant.

It’s a strange reversal of the Big Brother scenario when defendants preserve and disseminate evidence connecting them to crime. Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike should keep well-informed about popular messaging apps of all kinds. The availability, and perhaps questionable admissibility, of documentary evidence generated by smartphones is not something attorneys can ignore in good faith.