a. (§21.69) Text Messages
In State v. Harris, 358 S.W.3d 172, 175–76 (Mo. App. E.D. 2011), the court rejected attempts to admit texts based solely on the witness’s testimony that she received the messages on her phone. The court held that it was possible to lay a proper foundation through testimony of the recipient alone, but the defendant failed to ask questions establishing who sent the messages. In State v. Francis, 455 S.W.3d 56, 69–73 (Mo. App. E.D. 2014), the court held that evidence that the Blackberry was in the defendant’s possession at his arrest was inadequate to establish ownership, let alone authorship of the text messages within. In so holding, the Francis court found...
