NYT OPINION: Why Alex Murdaugh’s Quick Conviction Worries Me
By Farhad Manjoo
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 3, 2023 at 02:00AM
In the Murdaugh case, arguments by both the prosecution and the defense involved loads of data, and both sides raised important points about what the digital records prove and do not prove in a high-stakes case — and I expected a jury to have a hard time getting to the bottom of these issues.
Well, apparently not. The Murdaugh trial lasted almost six weeks. The prosecution and defense called more than 70 witnesses. The jury began deliberating after lunch on Thursday and reached a verdict by dinnertime. I have little quarrel with its decision, but the lightning speed with which it came to its conclusion — about three hours — makes me deeply uncomfortable with how the criminal justice system might deal with all of the digital effluvia being spewed by our devices. Unlike the jury, apparently, I worry that the evidence our devices produce can just as easily muddy the picture of a crime as clarify it.
By Farhad Manjoo
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 3, 2023 at 02:00AM
The case was built on a trove of digital data. Could the jury have given it due consideration in just three hours?
As I watched the gripping murder trial of the prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh over the last few weeks, I found myself wrestling with difficult questions about how data from smartphones and other digital technologies should be relied upon in the criminal justice system. We are all being constantly and intimately tracked by our gadgets, but the voluminous records produced by these devices are not always easy to interpret.In the Murdaugh case, arguments by both the prosecution and the defense involved loads of data, and both sides raised important points about what the digital records prove and do not prove in a high-stakes case — and I expected a jury to have a hard time getting to the bottom of these issues.
Well, apparently not. The Murdaugh trial lasted almost six weeks. The prosecution and defense called more than 70 witnesses. The jury began deliberating after lunch on Thursday and reached a verdict by dinnertime. I have little quarrel with its decision, but the lightning speed with which it came to its conclusion — about three hours — makes me deeply uncomfortable with how the criminal justice system might deal with all of the digital effluvia being spewed by our devices. Unlike the jury, apparently, I worry that the evidence our devices produce can just as easily muddy the picture of a crime as clarify it.
Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/03/opinion/alex-murdaugh-guilty-verdict.html
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