The Caleb Flynn Trial: Your Text Messages Can Become Evidence Long Before You Are Arrested

Most people have heard some version of the Miranda warning:

“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

But there is an important misconception hidden in that familiar phrase.

The government does not necessarily have to arrest you, place you in handcuffs, or read you your Miranda rights before something you say can potentially become evidence against you.

And you do not even have to say it to the police.

The murder trial of Caleb Flynn provides a timely example. As the jury begins deliberations, text messages introduced during the trial are among the pieces of evidence jurors may consider in determining what happened and whether the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is also a reminder of something criminal defense lawyers see with increasing frequency: your phone can become one of the most important witnesses in a criminal case.

The Caleb Flynn Murder Trial

According to reporting by WLWT, the Caleb Flynn murder trial has now reached jury deliberations after the prosecution and defense presented their evidence and closing arguments.

Like any criminal case, the jury's responsibility is not simply to decide whether it believes a particular piece of evidence. Jurors must consider all of the admitted evidence and determine whether the prosecution has proven every required element of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt.

Among the evidence presented in the Flynn case were text messages.

And that raises an important issue that extends well beyond this particular trial.

You Don't Have to Be Under Arrest for Your Words to Be Used Against You

Miranda rights are frequently misunderstood.

People sometimes assume that if the police have not read them their rights, their statements cannot be used in court.

That is not how Miranda works.

Miranda generally concerns custodial interrogation by law enforcement. It does not create a blanket rule preventing the government from using statements someone voluntarily makes outside that setting.

Consider a few examples.

You send a text message to a friend.

You send someone a direct message through social media.

You leave a voicemail.

You send an email.

You make a statement to a coworker.

You post something publicly on social media.

Depending on the circumstances and the applicable evidentiary rules, any of those communications could potentially become evidence in a later criminal investigation or prosecution.

You may never have been questioned by a police officer when you made the statement.

You may not even have known that you were under investigation.

Text Messages Are Evidence, But What Do They Actually Prove?

Text messages are often circumstantial evidence.

That does not make them meaningless or somehow "less real" than other evidence. Circumstantial evidence simply requires the factfinder to draw an inference from the evidence.

For example, prosecutors may argue that a series of messages establishes:

• motive;

• intent or knowledge;

• a relationship between two people;

• someone's location or planned destination;

• a timeline of events;

• consciousness of guilt;

• prior communications between participants; or

• an explanation for conduct that occurred before or after an alleged crime.

But context matters enormously.

A text message is a snapshot of a conversation. A single message may mean something very different when the messages immediately before and after it are considered.

Sarcasm, jokes, slang, exaggeration and missing portions of a conversation can also affect what a message actually means.

That is why the existence of an incriminating-sounding text is not necessarily the end of the analysis.

How Does a Text Message Get Admitted Into Evidence?

A prosecutor generally cannot simply show the jury a screenshot and say, "The defendant wrote this."

Evidence must first satisfy the applicable rules of evidence.

One important requirement is authentication.

In Florida, Section 90.901, Florida Statutes, generally requires evidence sufficient to support a finding that the item is what the person offering it claims it to be.

With electronic communications, that can create important questions.

Who actually wrote the message?

Was the phone exclusively used by that person?

Who controlled the account?

Does the phone number establish authorship, or merely identify the account or device?

Do the contents of the conversation contain information connecting the message to a particular person?

Can another witness identify the conversation?

Was the information obtained through a forensic extraction of the phone?

Are there surrounding circumstances that help establish who sent the communication?

Authentication can potentially come from several different sources. The precise method depends upon the facts of the case.

And authentication is only one part of the evidentiary analysis. Depending upon the circumstances, lawyers may also litigate hearsay, completeness, relevance, unfair prejudice, search-and-seizure issues and other evidentiary objections.

"But That's Hearsay"

This is another common misunderstanding.

People sometimes assume that anything said outside the courtroom is automatically inadmissible hearsay.

It isn't that simple.

For example, under Florida's Evidence Code, a statement offered against a party that is the party's own statement may qualify as an admission under Section 90.803(18), Florida Statutes.

So when prosecutors obtain a defendant's text messages, the hearsay rule does not necessarily prevent those messages from being admitted against the defendant.

There may still be other objections or evidentiary issues, but "it's hearsay" does not automatically keep a defendant's own words away from a jury.

Deleted Doesn't Necessarily Mean Gone

There is another practical lesson here.

Deleting a text message from your phone does not necessarily mean the message has disappeared.

The recipient may still have it. Investigators may obtain another device. A forensic examination may recover information. Screenshots may exist. Relevant information may also be obtained through lawful legal process from third parties, depending upon what information exists and applicable law.

More importantly, once someone knows that he or she is under investigation, attempting to destroy evidence can create entirely new problems.

The better response to learning about a criminal investigation is not to start deleting things.

It is to speak with a criminal defense attorney before taking action.

Your Phone May Tell a Story You Never Intended to Tell

Twenty years ago, criminal investigations depended much more heavily on physical evidence, eyewitnesses and traditional interviews.

Today, our phones document enormous portions of our lives.

Texts, photographs, location information, searches, applications, social-media communications and other digital information may potentially become part of an investigation.

Sometimes that evidence helps the prosecution.

Sometimes it helps the defense.

Sometimes a text that initially looks damaging becomes far less significant once the entire conversation and surrounding circumstances are examined.

That is why criminal cases involving digital evidence require more than simply reading the prosecution's favorite screenshots.

The evidence needs to be examined in context.

Anything You Say Can Be Used Against You, Even Before an Arrest

The broader lesson from cases involving text-message evidence is simple:

Do not assume that your words are protected simply because you were not speaking to the police.

The statement you casually send today could become an exhibit months or even years later.

If you learn that law enforcement wants to speak with you, that someone has accused you of a crime, or that you may be the subject of an investigation, one of the most important things you can do is get legal advice before you start explaining yourself to police, witnesses, alleged victims or other people involved in the case.

You cannot control how someone else will interpret a text message after the fact.

But you can control what you say next.

Facing a Criminal Investigation in Palm Beach County?

At The Law Office of Matthew Konecky, P.A., we represent individuals facing criminal investigations and charges throughout Palm Beach County, including West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and surrounding communities.

Digital evidence can be powerful, but it still must be obtained lawfully, admitted properly and evaluated in the context of the entire case.

If police want to question you, have seized your phone, or you have learned that your text messages may be part of an investigation, contact our office before making additional statements about the case.

Call 561-671-5995 or visit 561law.com to schedule a confidential consultation.

This article is for general informational purposes and is not intended as legal advice. The Caleb Flynn case discussed above is an ongoing criminal proceeding at the time of publication, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.