South Carolina v. Brockmeyer

Appellant William Mark Brockmeyer appealed his convictions for murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, raising constitutional challenges to both the trial court's refusal to enforce a subpoena concerning the identity of an internet commenter and the admission of certain chain-of-custody testimony and other photographic evidence at trial. The theory of appellant's defense was that the shooting was an accident. An issue arose over posted comments to a news article by a local television station. Appellant wanted evidence supporting his claim of accident and being emotionally upset after the shooting, and contended the online post suggested its author had direct knowledge of the incident and supported his claim of accident. Accordingly, appellant served the television station with a subpoena seeking the user's gender, year of birth, ZIP code, name and email address (all requirements for creating a user account on the station's website to publish comments online). The television station resisted the subpoena on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds. Appellant argued his constitutional right to a fair trial required disclosure of the identity of the commenter. The Supreme Court concluded after its review of the trial court record, that the subpoena issue was not properly preserved for appeal, and even if it had been, the trial court's refusal to enforce the subpoena was not reversible error. Finding no other reversible errors, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court in all other respects. View "South Carolina v. Brockmeyer" on Justia Law