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According to MahaloLearnMore.com “In January 2012, Youtube was hitting over 4 billion views a day, more than double the number of daily views they had just 18 months prior. According to its press statistics, YouTube receives approximately 800 million unique visitors each month, with more than 4 billion hours of video watched monthly. In terms of social media, Facebook users watch 500 years of YouTube videos daily. One of the reasons for Youtube’s popularity is that it makes everyone a filmmaker; anyone at all can create a user account and upload to youtube, and anyone with internet access can watch video content for free, with or without a login.” Singers have gotten their big break, anamials have made us laugh and we can look up how to do almost anything on Youtube. And now Youtube can be used as evidence in criminal charges. Social Media is the newest form of criminal evidence. Information gleaned from Facebook postings and other social media communications have been allowed as evidence, providing a judge believes the information is directly relevant to a case and not a blatant violation of someone’s privacy. Even if you are not knowingly the subject of a criminal investigation you should be aware that your Facebook postings are not private. Obviously whoever you have “friended” is privy to your postings depending on your privacy levels. Any of these people may easily take a screen shot of any posting you make. The same is true for text messages. The textee can take a screen shot of your text message and it is no longer yours to control. Postings on other social media networks such as Twitter are similarly subject to criminal prosecution if the content is deemed threatening or otherwise suspected to be of a criminal nature. Last week USA TODAY reported the following story about Matthew Cordle who confessed to vehicular homicide on You Tube. To see the entire article and view the confession click here. Matthew Cordle, 22, admits getting drunk and driving the wrong way on I-670 near Columbus, crashing into a jeep and killing its driver. “My name is Mathew Cordle and on June 22, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani,” Cordle says in the video posted Friday. “This video will act as my confession. When i get charged, I will plead guilty and take full responsibility for everything I’ve done to Vincent and his family… I won’t dishoner Vincent’s memory by lying about what happened.” Cordle says in the video that after the crash he spoke with “some high-powered attorneys” who told him that it might be possible to get his blood test thrown out. He said they told him of “about similar cases where the drivers got off. “All I would have to do is lie. I won’t go down that path.”

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Canzani’s ex-wife, Cheryl Oates, told fox6now.comthat Cordle’s remorse appeared genuine and that she was encouraged that he took responsibility for his actions. Still, the mother of two sons said she felt Cordle should spend some time in prison. “It’s gut-wrenching coming from a mother looking at that young boy, and he just doesn’t understand the damage that he did,” she told the website. George Breitmayer III, a Columbus lawyer representing Cordle, told The Columbus Dispatch that he was unaware his client was posting the confession. “This video he released demonstrates his character, bravery and integrity, and I know he fully intends to cooperate with law enforcement and Franklin County prosecutors throughout the course of any future criminal proceedings,” Breitmayer told the Dispatch. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told the Dispatch he watched Cordle’s video three times. “It’s the most compelling video I think I have seen. He strikes me as remorseful and sincere,” O’Brien said. O’Brien said he will ask grand jurors on Monday to indict Cordle on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide. The second-degree felony carries a prison sentence of two to eight years. O’Brien told fox6now that the video has not influenced him to recommend a lighter sentence. “We had a case against him based on the evidence as I know it before the video was filmed,” he told the website. Breitmayer said the video was not posted in an effort to gain a shorter prison sentence. On the recording, Cordle says he “can’t bring Mr. Canzani back. I can’t erase what I’ve done,” but says “I beg you, and I say the word beg specifically, I’m begging you, please don’t drink and drive.” John Bacon, USA TODAY When you are in need of a criminal defence attorney, in Bergen County, New Jersey, Aretsky & Aretsky Attorneys at Law are equiped to defend you. They have successfully prevented charges from being filed, negotiated for lesser charges, and obtained acquittals in a wide range of criminal defense matters. From cases involving DUIs, traffic violations and driving while suspended, to cases involving drug offenses, shoplifting, and assaults, their criminal defense attorneys have the skill, experience, and tenacity necessary to secure positive outcomes for their clients. Aretsky & Aretsky Attornenys can be reached at the Ridgewood Office 257 E. Ridgewood Ave., Suite 303 Ridgewood, NJ 07450, Phone: (201) 996-0234 or https://www.aretsky-law.com/.

Whether you intentionally chose not to attend or circumstances prevented you from arriving, the court does not accept any excuses. You may have thought that missing the hearing would be easy to reschedule, not that big of a deal. However, in the eyes of the court, missing a court hearing is a serious offense. They assigned you a time to be there, and you failed to show up. This will most likely result in the court forfeiting your bond and issuing a warrant for your arrest. The forfeiture of bail means that the money you pay to the court will not be returned to you. Having a warrant out for your arrest means that you will arrested on the spot if stopped for a traffic offense, but more importantly, you can be arrested without notice at your home or place of employment. The court does not take this offense lightly. If you missed a court hearing related to a DUI, then the consequences could lead to losing your license and/or driving privileges. If you missed a family court hearing, then you would be placed in contempt of court, which means that you have not complied with the court’s timely requirements or actions; therefore, you could face a fine or even jail time. The jail time could be related to how long you remain in contempt of court, so the best thing to do is to resolve the issue in a timely manner. Here’s what you can do to avoid the hassle and embarrassment of being in such situations. The first step you should take is to call the court and find out if a warrant has been issued. If this is the case, you have two options. The first is to go to the court and turn yourself in, post bail and find out what steps you need to take in order to reschedule your court hearing. However, it is recommended that you take an attorney with you to approach the court on your behalf for missing the hearing, to get your case another court date, and to help smooth out any wrinkles caused by your delinquency in court. Sometimes an attorney can even help get the warrant vacated, unless you have multiple missed court hearings or other multiple offenses. You can attempt to represent yourself, but an attorney comes to the court with a wealth of knowledge and experience which will make the process go more smoothly. Call us today, so that we can walk you through this difficult process and help reduce the stress this is causing you.