A judge on Tuesday denied a state motion to revoke the bond of a Hagerstown man accused of intercepting communications, based on allegations he violated conditions of pretrial supervision by posting items on the internet.
Dustin Cavanaugh, 30, of South Cannon Avenue was indicted in October on one count of interception of communication for allegedly recording a telephone call in September without the other person's permission, then posting it on the internet.
At an Oct. 22 bond hearing, Circuit Judge Daniel P. Dwyer released Cavanaugh on his own recognizance. Conditions included not accessing or posting on social media; not recording people without their consent; and "to not possess any electronic devices such as cellphones, tablets, and computers," according to the motion to revoke bond.
"Unless you can produce evidence that it was Mr. Cavanaugh himself posting on social media, and not somebody on his behalf, I would respectfully deny the motion to deny bond," Dwyer told Deputy State's Attorney Gina Cirincion.
Dwyer also said there was not enough evidence presented to show Cavanaugh possessed any internet-accessible devices.
Cirincion and Assistant Public Defender David Littrell argued the motion before Dwyer on Tuesday. The motion included exhibits purporting to show screenshots of posts on Cavanaugh's Twitter account in October and November.
However, an Oct. 24 tweet stated: "Until further notice all tweets are made by me. ... I am his girlfriend and in charge of all his social media until further notice."
Another exhibit was a Nov. 24 tweet in which, the motion stated, "the user no longer referred to Defendant in the third-person and began using the first-person description."
The motion cited a Nov. 29 tweet with a link to a Washington Post article on real estate transactions, including one for an assistant state's attorney prosecuting Cavanaugh's case.
"There has to be some evidence that these exhibits are real ... and that these exhibits can actually be tied to my client," Littrell told the judge. He said they did not prove Cavanaugh posted the items to social media, calling them "documents without any proof."
Cirincion called the posts "self-authenticating" in that Cavanaugh's twitter account information appears on them.
Cirincion told Dwyer that Cavanaugh "violated your court order repeatedly" and expressed concern that one post included information about a prosecutor. State's attorneys are often targets of threats and harassment, she said.
"This is not a minor transgression," Cirincion said.
Dwyer admitted the exhibits on the basis that they showed posts "on a Twitter account with Dustin Cavanaugh's name associated with it."
The judge said he was concerned about a prosecutor's information being posted online, but noted public-domain information was accessible before social media. The internet had made it easier to access, he said.
Cavanaugh's trial is scheduled for Jan. 28, court records said.