Gotti trial rests on text message interpretation

In another example of SMS used as evidence in court, the US government combed through page after page of carefully selected text-message exchanges between convicted crack dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and the Gotti brothers with New York Police Detective William Courtney — all within Judge Edward Korman's courtroom in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon. MTV.com reports.

"Before Korman allowed the evidence, and away from the ears and eyes of the jury, both sides butted heads over the two-way transmissions.

Defense attorney Gerald Shargel blasted the prosecution for drawing inappropriate inferences from the abbreviated text-message records provided by the Gottis' pager service.

... "The government's making assumptions," Shargel challenged, adding that some of the transmissions could be misconstrued even further because jurors — as opposed to listening to a recorded conversation — wouldn't be able to "tell inflection, so they won't be able to tell if these messages are jokes or not."

According to Vibe.com, text messages sent between Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo and druglord Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff raised about a connection to the shooting of 50 Cent."

emily | 9:20 AM | SMS as Evidence in Court |
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