E-Mail Naivete Leads To False Prosecution
Tuesday July 22, 2008
http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2008/07/email_naivete_leads_to_false_p.php

By now any experienced Internet user should know that e-mail headers aren't always what they seem to be. A message is not always from the person it purports to be "From: ".

Someone should have explained this problem to the New York City Police department and the Bronx County District Attorney, both of whom used an e-mail sent by one party to a second party, following an error by that second party, in order to prosecute a third party for sending it. In fact, in this case the header may have been accurate and the problem simple laziness in examining it.

Bronx resident William Hallowell was arrested on complaint of his supervisor, Robin Berson. Ms Berson had attempted to send an e-mail to Mr. Hallowell, but typed in the wrong address and sent it to a Ben Hallowell. Ben Hallowell's response made reference to illegal activities and hit on Ms. Berson in a crude way. Still not realizing what she had done she finked on William Hallowell to the Police who, despite a shocking absence of evidence against him, arrested him and held him for more than 30 hours. Prosecutors then took 4 months to dismiss the case. All these claims are as made in Hallowell's civil rights suit filed recently against police and prosecutors.