Internet can show your life to world

SANDUSKY

Some people meet online and fall in love.

A few of these people will wind up getting married. It's a romantic story to tell the grandchildren.

But though the Internet is responsible for bringing some people together, it is also responsible for tearing other couples apart.

Thanks to the popularity of social media, jealous spouses and livid ex-partners can often find tons of evidence -- some damning, some insignificant -- that their former significant other's behavior is not meeting expectations.

Although it's rare, Huron County magistrate Brad Sales said he's occasionally handled domestic cases where one of the parties introduced evidence of the other person's misbehavior that was found on social networking Web sites MySpace or Facebook.

"It's usually in the nature of photographs," Sales said. "The party introducing the photographs is interested in showing less than positive behavior by the other parent."

Sales said the few times evidence found online was used in his courtroom, they were in disputes dealing with parental custody.

A parent, hoping to illustrate the other parent's lack of responsibility, might submit to the court a MySpace photograph of that person chugging alcohol or engaging in unsavory activities.

According to a December 2008 police report, a Monroeville woman grew upset after her ex-husband sent her lewd text messages and posted photographs of her on his MySpace page with the words, "That's my (woman) and always will be ha ha."

The woman also told police her ex-husband posted a comment on her profile saying, "You may still be with (him) but I still own you."

The police report was entered into evidence with her Erie County divorce filing.

Attorney K. Ronald Bailey recently entered photographs from Facebook into evidence in a divorce case he handled.

The photographs were of his client's ex-wife and their children using his client's yacht, even though she was forbidden from doing so by a court order.

Bailey said lawyers have to know how to use the Web, because some of their cases can be made or broken by what's circulating in the online universe.

He said people without a moment's hesitation will post information and photos that could have legal relevance in criminal and domestic cases.

"It amazes me what people will put online," Bailey said.

Bailey said he's proven the other party in a legal action was lying by finding comments and postings they made online.

With a few clicks of the mouse, Bailey said he's found information sufficient to discredit the testimony of witnesses.

"They'll say something online that is contrary to what they are saying on the stand," he said.

A U.K. law firm recently said one-fifth of its divorce petitions contained references to Facebook, but a review of local divorce filings didn't suggest those estimates were accurate for this region.

Erie County magistrate Patrick Quinn said he has not handled divorce cases where social networking sites play a role in the proceedings.

Schools and law enforcement have started using Facebook to keep the community informed. To learn more, read Monday's Regster or e-paper.