Social media being used in court

It's a sign of the times -- social media is being used against people in court.
     
From Facebook posts to those tweets on Twitter, incriminating messages are being used to lock people up.

Ryan Rooth of the Rooth Law Group in St. Petersburg said if the messages prove a motive, he'll make use of them in court.

"If there's a sense of postings that shows dislike toward a person, or in the case of Rachel Wade, when there's a comment she would kill the other person, it can be used against her to show not only motive, but also they had an intent to commit a crime," Rooth said.

Last week, Wade was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Sarah Ludeman.

Prosecutors said Wade sent Leudeman several nasty Facebook messages threatening to kill Leudeman, and eventually she did.

In the past, Rooth has used MySpace messages to prove one of his clients was innocent.

"I used it as a defense tool to show that a victim of a particular battery charge was lying and it proved to be very successful," Rooth said.

Rooth said what people don't realize is there's an online electronic trail following you every click of the way.

You also want to be careful when you upload pictures because they can be used against you too.

"Common sense is key, and don't put anything online that you'll be embarrassed of," Rooth said.

The moral of the story here is if you're doing something wrong online, it could come back to haunt you.