Trials & Litigation
‘Devious’ MySpace Mood Destroys N.Y. Cop’s Jury Testimony
Posted Mar 13, 2009, 12:49 pm CST
By Martha Neil
In a case that has made international headlines, a legal aid lawyer in New York used a cop's Internet information to defeat a criminal case against his client.
Police officer and amateur bodybuilder Vaughan Ettienne made the mistake of setting his MySpace mood to "devious," on the day before a Brooklyn jury trial of a parolee charged with carrying a loaded weapon, according to the New York Times. But that wasn't his only apparent lapse of judgment.
Ettienne's admitted online trash talk, prior to trial, also included comments that seemingly may have endorsed police officers who cross the line. Among them was a reference to a 2001 movie that starred Denzel Washington as an over-aggressive law enforcer. On his Facebook page, referring to the movie, Ettienne wrote: “Vaughan is watching Training Day to brush up on proper police procedure,” the newspaper reports.
Asserting an excessive force defense, attorney Adrian Lesher of the Legal Aid Society used the Internet information to help portray his client, Gary Waters, as a victim of a an overzealous officer rather than an ex-con pulled over for weaving in traffic on a stolen motorcycle, as the government contended.
Says Ettienne: "It was a masterful piece of fantasy—but it was one that the jury bought.”
Additional coverage:
Brisbane Times: "Body-building cop's day in court turns ugly"
Ars Technica: "Cop's 'Devious' MySpace status helps get ex-con acquitted"
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