Most civil litigators have heard the horror stories of attorneys getting blindsided in depositions when print-outs from their client’s Facebook or MySpace pages are introduced into evidence. Â It seems criminal prosecutors have been paying attention to these stories and using them to question the character of defendants during sentencing hearings.
According to a recent AP news article, 
Joshua Lipton was involved in a DUI motor vehicle collision which resulted in severe injuries to the other driver. Â In an attempt to liven up a Halloween party two-weeks after the crash, Josua was photographed dressed up as a prisoner in a black-and-white shirt and orange jumpsuit which was labeled “Jail Bird”. Â Needless to say, these photos were uploaded to Facebook and the prosecutor had a field-day with them during the sentencing hearing where Joshua was portrayed as making light of a situation while the victim of his crime was lying in a hospital. Â The presiding judge failed to appreciate Joshua’s satire and sentenced him to two years in prison.
In another case, Darryl Perlin, senior prosecutor in Santa Barbara County, California, had intended on offering probation for Lara Buys for a DUI collision which resulted in Lara killing her passenger. Â That was until Perlin checked Lara’s MySpace page while he was preparing for sentencing. Â Lara’s page had photographs of Lara after the collision holding a glass of wine along with comments joking about drinking. 
 Perlin had a change of heart and used the photos and comments to recommend a jail sentence instead of probation, resulting in 22 year-old Lara receiving two years in prison.  When asked about the MySpace page Perlin stated, ”Pending sentencing, you should be going to (Alcoholics Anonymous), you should be in therapy, you should be in a program to learn to deal with drinking and driving,…She was doing nothing other than having a good old time.”
Of course when your client refuses to take down a MySpace page in the midst of a criminal proceeding, it can’t help either.  Just ask Santa Barbara defense lawyer Steve Balash.  The day he met his client he told his client to take down her MySpage page immediately. The client refused and during the sentencing hearing the defense was “blindsided” by a presentencing report which included photos posted on MySpace after the crash with his client holding a beer bottle, another wearing a shirt advertising tequila and a yet another showing the client in a belt with holsters for plastic shot glasses. The client received more than five years in prison, ”[w]hen you take those pictures like that, it’s a hell of an impact,” Balash said.
It should be clear after reading these horror stories that any attorney, criminal, civil or domestic should insist upon their client’s immediate removal of their social networking pages. Â The ramifications of the information presented on these sites are profound and seriously hinder your ability to represent your client’s effectively.