Court sidesteps issue of social media account authentication

(AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped the issue of how social media accounts should be authenticated in criminal cases, in a ruling upholding a murder conviction.

While courts in other states have issued varying opinions on how to authenticate social media accounts, Connecticut justices instead said evidence against Bouknight was overwhelming and he didn't prove the admission of the Facebook evidence had a substantial effect on the jury's verdict.

The photos showed Bouknight wearing a baseball cap and a glove that were similar to a cap and glove witnesses said the killer was wearing when he shot William Baines in a dispute over a $100 debt.

The Maryland Court of Appeals said in a 2011 case that social media evidence can be verified in several ways, including having profile creators testify the accounts are theirs, searching computers used to create profiles and having social media companies verify profile creators.