Sunday, October 11, 2015

Forensic Linguistics plays important role in solving TN 'FaceBook Murders'

Judge John Kerry Blackwood, who has tried high profile cases throughout Tennessee, called this case the most bizarre thing that he has seen in his career as a judge. During the Christian-Newsom case, Judge Blackwood publicly scolded D A Randy Nichols, see DA Nichols gets an 'ass chewing' from Judge Blackwood.

What started as a feud in social media by local Mountain City TN residents, resulted in the brutal slaying of a married couple, and lengthy prison sentences for four others.
An elaborate scheme of deception was uncovered through careful examination of the family's computer, phone messages, and texts.

Authorities were able to show that a fake profile on social media, described as a 'Chris' was actually Jenelle Potter, the daughter of Barbara and Marvin Potter--who were both convicted in the murders along with Jenelle and her boyfriend Jamie Curd.

Catch the entire episode on ABC's 20/20, before your next hateful text message puts you in a spot that you will forever regret.

Forensic Linguistics, and careful analysis of 'ironic repetition' in emails and text messages played a major role in solving this case and many others--Journal of the Humanities--Legal questions involve language, for instance, who wrote a ransom note--What is the meaning of a phrase in a contract?...To understand Law, one must understand language.