A WhatsApp screenshot can be decisive evidence, so a lawyer has been fined

S whatsapp test can be taken into account as documentary evidence. This was established by the National Judicial Discipline Commission, which fined a lawyer for four months on the grounds that he had committed a lack of loyalty to his client and a lack of professional due diligence.

In the sentence, the lawyer Meryl Lorena Vega Ochoa was sanctioned after considering that the evidence, exactly the WhatsApp screenshots, falsely reported what had happened during the process of expropriation of a property by her client. The delivery of information that did not correspond to the truth represented a habit to the interests of the person who, on paper, she was defending.

The decision dismissed the defense claims of the lawyer, who held that the data messages and WhatsApp screenshots could not be used against him, as they did not constitute valid evidence. With a presentation by magistrate Carlos Arturo Ramírez Vásquez, it was considered that the “effectiveness” of these messages cannot be influenced by the format in which they are presented in the judicial process.

To support this position, it was considered that the screenshots they have not been adulterated or modified. “Regardless of the public or private quality of documents, or whether they were originally data messages, both their reproduction in an image and the provision of a copy are presumed authentic by national law.”

In this sense it is observed that “therefore it is not correct to make elucidations which foreshadow bad faith in the actions of the interveners and/or of the procedural subjects regarding a falsification of the impression made in the plenary”.

Taking into account what has recently been stated by art Constitutional Court, The National Commission warned that “WhatsApp screenshots” cannot be classified as circumstantial evidence, given the possibility of being altered by editing software, since the actions of individuals before public authorities are covered by the principle of good faith, and the copies of these data message printouts were presumed authentic in light of the Code of Procedure.

Likewise, the legal professional was fined for lack of adequate professional verification, because despite having the sum of 39 million pesos for the administration of the property, she did not make the related payments.

The probative value of WhatsApp

In February 2020, the Constitutional Court approved WhatsApp screenshots as evidence. Whereas new technologies have constantly evolved and are part of people’s daily lives. For this reason they cannot be omitted when speaking of the administration of justice.

In a case like WhatsApp, it is noted that the instant messaging platform is used to “send text, it allows the transmission of images, video and audio, as well as the user’s location”. Because of this ability, importance is placed on what is revealed to you.

“Technically we define a screenshot as a digital image of what should be visible on a computer monitor, television or other visual output device. Through them, an attempt is made to obtain an indication whether a specific content has been transmitted over the network to a specific recipient user (in the case of messaging systems) or, for example, to determine the existence of a publication on a social network ( Facebook or Twitter),” the high court said at the time.

However, it is the person charged with administering justice who determines that the evidence has not been adulterated, bearing in mind that technology itself allows for modification or alteration.