5th Circuit finds chat log authenticated with detective testimony

Concurring with decisions from other jurisdictions, a Fifth Circuit panel held yesterday that chat logs were properly authenticated by the "detective testifying that the transcripts were an accurate reflection of the chats." United States v. Lundy, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6315 (5th Cir. 2012). The detective, who was a party to the conversation, had copied and pasted the text into a Word document. Additionally, he "was subject to cross-examination on his biases and methodology."

Also, the detective used software to take a video screen capture during the chat. The video was also found to have been properly authenticated.