Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

That’s part of what people are told when they are arrested. It warns people about incriminating themselves in a criminal prosecution.

But maybe we should all remember this:

Anything you post online can come back to bite you in court.

A police officer is currently being accused of some nefarious behavior. The officer’s MySpace information and website comments have been subpoenaed, and now they’re being used against him in a police brutality case. He certainly should’ve been careful with his online activity.

An even weirder case also occurred last week. An Arkansas juror is being accused of misconduct by Twittering about the trial. Lance Turner has been maintaining an extremely thorough article on the case. One of the juror’s allegedly improper tweets includes:

So Jonathan, what did you do today? Oh nothing really, I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money

What does all this mean for you and me? Just remember what your mom taught you: if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Be careful what you post online, since you might be surprised how it can come back to haunt you.

Lawyers are in court a lot. We get to hear many funny and odd comments. Here’s one of my latest ones from the Fredericksburg General District Court: “You’re innocent until proven guilty.”

The funny thing is that someone said this in civil court.

A debtor had shown up for court and was found guilty because she admitted that she owed the debt. Then I overheard someone else tell her: “but you’re innocent until proven guilty!”

That’s a true statement, but it’s a bit off. In the American legal system, criminal defendants are innocent until proven guilty. A similar concept applies in civil cases: the plaintiff must prove his case against the defendant. But civil defendants are not found “guilty” or “innocent.” The plaintiff either wins a judgment or not. That’s it.

The other important point is that this particular defendant admitted the debt. If you are sued and you admit that the plaintiff’s case is correct, the case is over. Done. Judgment is entered against you.

The moral of this story is this: if you don’t owe a debt, don’t admit it. If you’re in doubt about whether or not you have a defense, talk to a lawyer.

Do you have a case pending in the Fredericksburg General District Court? If so, do not trust the online case information system.

Hearings and trials frequently appear in the case system with a bizarre time listed, such as 2:59 PM. Any party or attorney who has showed up for an event at such time can tell you that the website time will cause major problems such as getting your case dismissed for failure to show up.

The best solution is to double check your hearing time before the scheduled date. You can do this by calling the friendly clerks at the Fredericksburg General District Court. They will be happy to check the appropriate time for you to arrive.

I have spoken with the clerks about the online time issue. They said it is some sort of issue with the way they have to input information in the computer. I’m sure it is not their fault. But I wonder why someone cannot fix the problem.

A simple thing like the hearing time can be the deciding factor in your case. Don’t lose by showing up at the wrong time. Call to confirm.