Opinion ID: 2630000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admission of Computer Printouts of Internet Communication

Text: [¶ 22] Mr. Adams claims the district court violated W.R.E. 1002, which requires use of the best evidence, when it admitted edited printouts of the chat room communications. He also claims the State's refusal to allow him access to the police department's computer to examine the communications as they existed on the computer hard drive violated the rule of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) by failing to disclose favorable evidence material to the guilt or punishment of the defendant. Evidence is material under Brady only when a reasonable probability exists that the result of the proceeding would have been different had the evidence been disclosed. Helm v. State, 1 P.3d 635 (Wyo.2000). Evidentiary rulings on the admissibility of evidence are reviewed for a clear abuse of discretion and we will not disturb those rulings if the court could have reasonably concluded as it did. Boykin v. State, 2005 WY 15, ¶ 5, 105 P.3d 481, ¶ 5 (Wyo.2005); Seward v. State, 2003 WY 116, ¶ 13, 76 P.3d 805, ¶ 13 (Wyo.2003). [¶ 23] The district court ordered the State to preserve all communications between Mr. Adams and the Casper police detective posing as the 15 year old Amber. At trial, the State produced printouts of instant messages between Mr. Adams and the detective. Mr. Adams objected to those exhibits contending they did not constitute the best evidence of the content of the dialogue between the two. He informed the court he had not been able to obtain the electronic counterparts of the exhibits which were the original documents for the purposes of W.R.E. 1002, and he had been unable to verify that the dialogue between Mr. Adams and the officer was accurately represented in the printouts. [1] [¶ 24] The State's witness explained they could not allow Mr. Adams or his representatives unlimited access to the police department's computer because it held all of the other pending cases, information about other suspects, and images of child pornography. He testified that the computer was used exclusively for these types of investigations and that it is only accessible by personnel conducting those investigations. He likened the computer to an evidence locker where evidence pertaining to a particular case is segregated by saving the pertinent dialogue to a specific folder on the computer and the only way to preserve the information was to cut and paste it to a file on the hard drive of the computer. Although Mr. Adams questioned the authenticity of this document under W.R.E. 901, the State's witnesses testified the entire dialogue was contained in the folder and no additions or deletions were made. The chat log exhibits introduced at trial were the hard copies of the evidence file folder. The district court ruled a proper foundation had been laid for the exhibits, authenticity had been shown, and they were true and correct copies of the original as required by W.R.E. 1002. [¶ 25] The Wyoming Rules of Evidence require an original when the objective at trial is to prove the content of a writing. W.R.E. 1002. An original is defined as including any computer printout or other readable output of data stored in a computer or similar device, which is shown to reflect the data accurately. W.R.E. 1001(3). If a computer printout is deemed to be a duplicate of the original record, its introduction is subject only to proof of the authenticity of the original. W.R.E. 1003. Authentication is shown by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what the proponent claims it is. W.R.E. 901(b)(9). Whether other evidence of the contents of a writing (other than the original) correctly reflects the contents, the issue is for the trier of fact. W.R.E. 1008. [¶ 26] The State's witness testified that the chat log exhibits were exact copies of the communication between the parties contained in the computer and thus, they were either appropriate computer originals or duplicates which were properly authenticated. Whether they accurately reflected the contents of the instant messages sent between the parties was an issue for the jury to decide and it had adequate evidence upon which to make such a decision. The district court found adequate foundation was laid for the documents and they were properly authenticated. Nothing in the record indicates that ruling was an abuse of discretion. [¶ 27] On appeal, Mr. Adams contends, for the first time, the State's refusal to allow him access to the computer to verify the accuracy of the chat logs constituted a Brady violation. However, the record indicates that argument was not made in the district court. We have repeatedly said we will not address issues raised for the first time on appeal. Davis v. City of Cheyenne, 2004 WY 43, ¶ 26, 88 P.3d 481, ¶ 26 (Wyo.2004). In addition, Mr. Adams offers no explanation regarding what material evidence might have been withheld that was favorable to him and would have been material to his guilt or innocence.