• CRIMINAL

TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

Klein v. Texas

Necessity of legally sufficient evidence to support jury's findings

In the present case, conviction of accused on multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault is reversed on ground that there was legally insufficient evidence to support the jury's findings of at least four separate incidents of assault and that Trial Court had erred in admitting into evidence the complainant's prior out-of-court statements to investigators that the appellant had sexually abused her.

Walter v. Texas

Admissibility of statements that are directly against declarant's interest

In the instant case, conviction for the capital murder of three restaurant employees is reversed and remanded over objections as to the admission of the hearsay statements of a co-defendant on ground that statements that are directly against the declarant's interest and collateral "blame-sharing" statements may be admissible as statements against penal interest, if corroborating circumstances clearly indicate their trustworthiness.

• US DISTRICT COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

State v. Lott

Admissibility of Instant Messaging Conversation Upheld

In the present case, the defendant - convicted for using computer services in a manner prohibited by the law - appealed an order denying his motion to suppress the instant message evidence that led to his conviction. Court however declared that the evidence was admissible as defendant, as a matter of law, consented to the recording of the messages because the defendant impliedly knew they were being recorded. The court noted that like an e-mail message and a message left on an answering machine, the recording of the instant message is necessary for the intended recipient of that message to read the message.