Mass. High Court Says Text Messages Are Admissible In Court

Text messages sent to another person can be used as evidence in court.

That's according to a ruling Tuesday from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which said there is no expectation of privacy for text messages sent to another person's phone.

The unanimous ruling takes up the issue of privacy rights and text messages, something for which there are few rulings from courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The question whether an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in sent text messages acquired from another's cellular telephone is a matter of first impression in the Commonwealth, and the United States Supreme Court has provided no explicit guidance on the issue," Justice Frank Gaziano wrote in the ruling for the court.

The ruling said — like a traditional letter or some oral communication — once a message is delivered to someone, there is no expectation of privacy so law enforcement can use the texts as evidence in court. Text messages are more easily distributed than other forms of communication, Gaziano added.

"Any purported expectation of privacy in sent text messages of this type is significantly undermined by the ease with which these messages can be shared with others," the ruling said. "In addition to simply displaying the message to another, as would be possible with non-electronic, written forms of communication, a recipient also can forward the contents of the message to hundreds or thousands of people at once, or post a message on social media for anyone with an Internet connection to view."

The case involved Jorge Delgado-Rivera of Melrose who was charged with drug trafficking based on text messages that police in Texas found on another man's phone. That man was never charged. A Middlesex Superior Court judge sided with Delgado-Rivera and threw out the text messages as evidence. Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan appealed to the high court. The ruling said the lower court judge was wrong and the texts can now be used as evidence in Delgado-Rivera's upcoming trial.

The ruling does not address the issues surrounding privacy rights when technology, such as encrypting, is used in texting. The high court said it was leaving that issue "for another day."