Evidence, Facebook and other Social Media Posts

Unless otherwise indicated, all indented material is copied directly from the court’s opinion.

Decisions of the Tennessee Supreme Court

Decisions of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

State of Tennessee v. McDaniel, No. E2019-01862-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Ct. Crim. App. Feb. 24, 2022).

Tennessee Rule of Evidence 901 provides that “[t]he requirement of authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to  the  court  to  support  a  finding  by  the  trier  of fact that the  matter  in  question  is  what  its proponent claims.”   Whether evidence has been sufficiently authenticated is within the trial court’s  sound  discretion,  and  its  decision  will  not  be  overturned  absent  an  abuse  of discretion.   See State v. Mickens, 123 S.W.3d 355, 376 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2003).