Federal court grasps the ‘selfie’

Listen to this article

By Amber Nimocks
Dolan Media Newswires

While much of the English-speaking world was getting comfortable with – or being made uncomfortable by – its new understanding of the word “twerking” last month thanks to Miley Cyrus, the federal judiciary was welcoming another modern addition to its lexicon with somewhat less fanfare.

“Selfie” was defined for what is believed to be the first time, by a federal court in the Western District of North Carolina. In a denial of a motion to suppress evidence issued Aug. 14, U.S. District Court Judge Martin Reidinger ruled that it was reasonable for an officer to seek to search a defendant’s phone for selfies. The judge relied in part on Time magazine’s 2012 definition when defining “selfie” as “the name given to a self-portrait photograph ‘often snapped at odd angles with smartphones’ and ‘typically made to post on a social networking website.’ ”

The definition arose in U.S. v. Doe. Lawrence Doe, whose felonies include a conviction in Beaufort County, South Carolina, was charged in December 2012 with being a felon in possession of a firearm. A team of sheriff’s deputies clocked the Toyota Camry that Doe was riding in at 110 mph along Interstate 26 in North Carolina’s Polk County in August 2012.

Doe drew a deputy’s attention during the traffic stop by tossing a packet of McDonald’s sweet and sour dipping sauce out of the passenger-side window, and was asked to step out of the vehicle. The deputy noticed the barrel of what turned out to be a loaded Smith & Wesson .357 revolver. After consent, a further search of the car revealed a gin-spiked cup of soda in the back seat. And in the trunk were bags of bolt cutters, tools, black gloves, silver coins and coin sets, and a stolen Honda motorcycle.

The deputy figured there was evidence related to the criminal activity on Doe’s cell phone, and sought a warrant to search it for photos, texts and video related to the crimes.

Reidinger ruled that common sense would lead a practical person with an understanding of modern behavior to conclude that people these days make “flattering or unflattering ‘selfies.’ ”

Everybody knows that trends lose some of their cool-kid cache after the grown-ups figure out what they are. With that in mind, here’s hoping we’ll soon see a federal definition of “twerking.”