Facebook Photo May Be Entered As Evidence [Updated]

In the last seconds before everyone broke for lunch, Defense Attorney Jennifer Tunnard asked Judge Robin Pavia if she could enter as evidence a photo apparently posted on Facebook by the victim in the Henrique Marques case.

Judge Pavia asked why not just use a head shot.

Tunnard said the photograph goes to the heart of the risk of injury charge against Henrique Marques by raising questions about the morals of the victim, who was 15 in 2010 when the crime was said to happen.

Marques is facing charges of second-degree assault and two counts of risk of injury to a minor. Although the sex was consensual, the charge arises because Marques was more than three years older than the victim, who was 15 years old.

The photograph, which wasn't shown yet in court, raises questions about the morals of the victim, Tunnard said. Tunnard asked how could you impair the morals of a person who would post this?

Pavia did not rule on the issue. She asked Tunnard to find any court cases that might be relevant to the issue of morals of a victim, the victim's postings on Facebook, and the risk of injury charge.

Earlier Thursday, State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky prepared for his case by showing jurors what happened to the Marques family on the morning of Aug. 21, 2010.

The girl's brother testified on Thursday he and the girl's father were driving around Bethel and Danbury during the roughly two to three hours his sister was missing that Saturday morning.

The girl was supposed to be visiting her mother, but her brother saw her climb into a silver car the girl's mother didn't drive.

"Was your father concerned?" Sedensky asked.

"Yes, he was."

"Were you concerned?"

"Yes, I was," the brother responded.

"She was 15 years old."

"Yes," the brother said.

The brother said he recognized the car his sister climbed into as one driven by the defendant, Henrique Marques. It had Massachusetts plates.

The father and brother first drove to the victim's mother's house, where she was supposed to be. She wasn't there.

They drove to Applebee's, where Marques had worked, but she wasn't there. They drove to Denny's, and she wasn't there. As they were leaving Denny's parking lot, the girl showed up at her mother's house in Bethel, her brother said. He knew because his father received a phone call from that house saying come back.

The brother will be cross examined at about 12:15 p.m. by Jennifer Tunnard, the attorney representing Marques. The girl's father is scheduled to testify Thursday afternoon.