If I Represented Victoria Lindsay

There is a great article on CT Summation Blawg by Josh Gilliland, Esq. Victoria Lindsay was the girl who was attacked by her classmates and the video was posted all over YouTube, and then all over everywhere else.

The article is about what e-discovery the prosecutor plaintiff's attorney should ask for in there respective upcoming trials. It is just interesting to see how e-discovery is permeating through all different levels of litigation.

Full article is here.

"If I were the district attorney or the plaintiff attorney, I would seek the following electronically stored information:

Cell Phone Text Messages: Teenagers communicate by text messages. There is a complex shorthand language that will require some translation, but these messages might show a conspiracy between the teenage attackers. This may require an expert to copy the cell phones or a third party subpoena to the cell phone company to acquire the text messages.

Cell Phone Photos or Video: It is difficult to find a cell phone that does not take photos or shoot video. Any exciting clips may show further evidence of guilt. A defense lawyer might find statements by co-defendants urging the attack to stop.

Instant messages: Third party experts might be required to copy instant message history from the defendants’ computer hard drives.

Blog postings: Teenagers communicate via posting on social networking sites such as MySpace. These sites allow users to post “tags” on their “friends” pages communicating plans, meetings, or other statements. I would have an expert copy each teenager’s webpage to seek each blog posting and tags for any evidence showing a plan to assault the victim.

YouTube Videos: I would have an investigator review every posting by any defendants on YouTube and copy potential party admissions. If these youth were planning to post an attack on YouTube, there might be video to show their plans."