How to Get Text Messages Thrown out of Court | 10 Steps by Expert

Your court case may include text texts in a significant way. They can establish the unreasonableness of a party’s viewpoints, confirm your attempts to do particular actions, establish legally binding treaties, and much more. As a result, you must verify the accuracy of any text messages submitted as evidence or utilized in evidentiary proceedings. If the situation is the opposite, you might request that the text be rejected. Thus, we have made this post on how to get text messages thrown out of court.

With today’s technology, it’s quite simple for someone with minimal computer knowledge to create or modify text messages such that they look to express things that were never spoken.

It’s also relatively simple to introduce large volumes of text messages, which might make it challenging to read through and identify any such fabrications.

Therefore, you must evaluate any text messages offered as evidence. This will ensure that what they say accurately reflects the discussion throughout the session.

If you find out that text messages have been changed while you’re in court, it’s too late to locate proof to support that claim. You can adequately prepare to have it discarded if you are aware of it in advance. Come along as we highlight this below.

• Understand the Rules of Evidence
• Determine the Legal Basis for Using Text Messages
• Request to Exclude a Text Message
• Consider the Relevance of Text Message Evidence
• Hire an Attorney
• Make a Motion to Exclude Text Message Evidence
• Challenge the Admissibility of Text Messages
• Prepare for the Hearing
• Present Your Argument
• Appeal the Decision if Necessary

How to Get Text Messages Thrown out of Court

You can get text messages thrown out of court through the following steps:

Understand the Rules of Evidence

Text messages may be used in court situations to establish innocence or help the defense. This includes personal injury cases to criminal trials and family law issues like divorce and child custody.

A text message could decide the outcome of a case after it has been allowed into evidence. Text messages are effectively a recorded discussion in a courtroom setting, or at the very least, a written declaration of your intention to say or do anything. They serve as a record of your ideas, expressions, and thoughts.

Text messages are often utilized in criminal trials to reveal a person’s purpose, the reason for committing an alleged crime, or the mental condition in advance.

Usually, it needs to demonstrate that someone had criminal intent. So, text messages may be used as proof of whether they claim it was deliberate or accidental.

Determine the Legal Basis for Using Text Messages

Text messages must be lawfully collected as evidence before being used in court. According to the legislation, if a person refuses to turn up their mobile phone, a lawyer may request access to pertinent texts by a court order or subpoena.

Regardless of whether the owner of a phone deletes specific messages from their device, the recipient may still read such texts on their phone. For a short time, most of the major mobile service providers also maintain a record of the text messages that account users send and receive.

Law enforcement may get a warrant to examine a phone from a court or magistrate if a suspect has not yet been charged with a crime. The phone must be needed for the investigation, and the prosecution must provide a solid reason for the police to require it. Once a warrant is in place, the police may seize the phone, inspect it, and download its contents.

Request to Exclude a Text Message

If a piece of evidence’s prejudicial impact significantly outweighs its probative value, a court may exclude it. So, you may ask to have a text message excluded.

For instance, “guilt by association” evidence might be disregarded as unjustly prejudiced. You must move to have this evidence excluded as derogatory if the authority attempts to present evidence that you associate with drug dealers to demonstrate that you are also a drug dealer.

Consider the Relevance of Text Message Evidence

For appropriate admission into evidence, texts must be verified. This implies that a lawyer must establish the integrity of a text message’s purported authorship.

Text messages may be verified by witness testimony or corroborating evidence, such as “the author’s screen name or monikers, usual usage of emoji or avatars,” according to the American Bar Association. It is also acceptable to provide the author’s known phone number, information about the author exclusively, or details that only the author and a select group of people may be aware of.

The admissibility and relevancy of the evidence in court are closely scrutinized. It is insufficient for someone to present a phone and declare, “Here is the cellphone, and here is the text message.” They must demonstrate the validity of a text, its applicability to the situation, and its lack of unjustified bias. And it’s up to you to disprove that.

Hire an Attorney

Your actions in a legal situation, such as seeking to exclude text messages as evidence in court, could have a long-term impact on your life. One of the most crucial choices you’ll make is whether to hire a lawyer and how to do it properly.

Asking for referrals from people you trust is one of the greatest methods to discover a reliable lawyer. Ask your relatives and friends first if they have any recommendations for attorneys that practice in the region you are searching for.

Additionally, you must evaluate the costs and expenses. Although you should never choose an attorney solely primarily on price, cost does indeed affect you. Request a detailed explanation of the attorney’s fees and, if feasible, a written breakdown. 

Make a Motion to Exclude Text Message Evidence

A foundation must be established before a document may be admitted into evidence. According to this rule, the person giving the evidence must provide adequate witness to establish that the object is what the party claims it to be. Making a Move to Exclude Text Message Evidence is now the appropriate action.

Challenge the Admissibility of Text Messages

An SMS message is often acceptable. However, you may only support its acceptance if you claim it is legitimate or was obtained unlawfully.

You might contend that no warrant was required for the text message evidence.

The government also seeks to motivate law enforcement to follow the Constitution while acquiring information. According to the “exclusionary rule,” courts will suppress Text Messages obtained illegally to encourage compliance. Although the legislation in this field is complex, you may use this overarching principle.

Prepare for the Hearing

Any court hearing is serious business. When the attendance is for your court hearing, this is particularly valid. It would be an understatement to suggest that anticipating a court hearing may be daunting. Making the necessary preparations can lessen your anxiety before your court appearance. Additionally, it will raise your chances of succeeding in court.

This requires careful legal planning. Include any supporting documentation for your position in the text messages. Include them in your binder if you have any further paperwork, such as invoices, that backs up the assertions you made in your petition or other papers you’ve submitted.

Your physical preparedness is also crucial at this stage. Additionally, it would help if you prepared a bag with any items you may need for the day, such as additional pencils and notepads, high-energy foods, breath mints, and any items you anticipate needing.

Present Your Argument

The heart of the case is made up of arguments. You will lose the case if you cannot persuade the court by failing to make your arguments convincing and persuasive.

You must understand the topic in-depth to frame an argument about your legal problem effectively and be familiar with the laws in that situation. You’ll need tact, understanding, and the capacity to see both sides of the issue to make a convincing case in court.

Your ability to organize your arguments in a way that will help your case win depends on whether you are trying to have text messages suppressed.

Appeal the Decision if Necessary

Appealing a decision is the procedure of asking a higher court than the one that made the original decision to review it. The process entails determining whether the lower court made the right decision after analyzing and considering the available evidence and the relevant legal standards.

According to Order 8 Rule 1 of the Court of Appeal Rules, the Registrar of the lower Court must compile the record of your appeal after you file a Notice of Appeal and send it to the Registrar of the Court of Appeal within 60 days of your filing.

My Opinion

Many people believe text messages to be private, but recent significant events have demonstrated this is only sometimes true. Text messages have been crucial in many court proceedings and could serve as the basis for legal proceedings against those investigated. Thus, the above highlight on How to get text messages thrown out of court will be indispensable for you.