After trial in superior court, a jury found Anthony Winianski guilty of rape.
During trial the prosecutor introduced a Facebook message from a user named “Anthony Mark Winiarski” to the alleged victim. The message was sent within 12 hours of the alleged rape and it stated:
i hope you got home ok. last night was maniacal and i’m not sure why…you are a strange lass.
Winiarski claims that the message was not properly authenticated at trial–presumably because he did not acknowledge owning the Facebook account (with its very exact name) or sending the cringe-worthy message.
On this basis he appealed his conviction.
The Appeals Court found no issue the message’s admittance at trial and affirmed the rape conviction.
The applicable case law states
[a]n extrajudicial statement made by a party opponent is an exception to the rule against the introduction of hearsay, and is admissible unless subject to exclusion on other grounds. The determination whether a statement qualifies as an admission by a party opponent is a preliminary question of fact for the judge, to be decided by a preponderance of the evidence. (Citations and quotations omitted.)
Based on this standard, the Appeals Court found that the Facebook message was indeed admissible:
Here, the Facebook message contains details that adequately identify the defendant as the author. The Facebook message, sent to the victim approximately twelve hours after the victim left the defendant’s apartment, contains the defendant’s full name, “Anthony Mark Winiarski,” in two separate places. The content of the message is specific to this case as it refers to the defendant’s “hope” that the victim arrived home safely on the night of the rapes, includes the defendant’s characterization of the night as “maniacal,” and labels the victim as a “strange lass.” There was no error in its admission. (Citations omitted.)
The full text of the slip opinion is attached below.