Lawyer Disciplined for Advising Client to Clean up Facebook Page

A lawyer in Virginia had his law license suspended last month for five years after he advised his client to clean up his Facebook page.  The lawyer was representing a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against a driver who allegedly caused the death of his wife.  Shortly after the defense filed discovery requests for screen shots and other information from the plaintiff's Facebook page, the Virginia lawyer instructed his paralegal to tell the client to delete certain photos.  The defense lawyers recovered the deleted photos before trial, and the lawyer was brought before the state bar disciplinary board for violation of ethical rules governing candor toward the tribunal, fairness to opposing party and counsel, and misconduct.  

Teen's Conviction of Harassment for Facebook Post is Upheld

A Pennsylvania court recently upheld a teen's conviction for the crime of harassment after she appealed the jury verdict against her. Commonwealth v. Cox.  The 18 year old had posted a comment on her Facebook page that the 15 year old victim "has herpes, Ew, that's gross. She should stop spreading her legs like her mother." The post received several "likes" from Cox's friends before it was deleted. The victim's mother reported the post to police, and the 18 year old was charged with the crime of harassment, which makes it illegal to communicate "to or about such other person any lewd, lascivious, threatening or obscene words, language, drawings or caricatures" with the intent to harass, annoy, or alarm the other person.  A jury found the teen guilty of harassment, and sentenced her to 6 months probation.

 

The teen appealed, and the appellate court upheld the conviction, finding that the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict and that the defense provided no evidence that the posting was for any other purpose than harassment of the victim.  “Contrary to Cox’s view and in light of the totality of the evidence, her misuse of the internet and social media was criminal,” the appellate court ruled.