Snapchat Video Helps Secure Conviction in Saugus Sexual Assault Trial

SALEM, MA — In a potentially precedent-setting decision, a man and woman in Saugus have been found guilty in a case of a sexual assault recorded on Snapchat.

The series of Snapchat videos show the victim, 16 at the time, standing naked in the woods and trying to say "stop," before showing what prosecutors claim to be a sexual assault on a girl who was stumbling and slurring due to drugs and alcohol, according to testimony in the case.

• Read More: Alleged Sexual Assault Shared on Snapchat Goes to Trial

The videos, which appear on the app and then vanish once viewed, were taken in September 2014.

After hearing testimony from a friend who viewed and took screenshots of the original video, seeing those screenshots and hearing testimony from the victim herself, jurors reached a guilty verdict Tuesday.

Rashad Deihim, 21, and Kailyn Bonia, 20, were found guilty on counts of assault to rape, indecent assault and battery on person 14 or over, and kidnapping, The Boston Globe reports. Deihim was found guilty on charges of posing a child in a state of nudity. Bonia was found not guilty of that charge.

They are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.

Wicked Local Saugus previously reported the district attorney's office has obtained videos provided by Snapchat. An Essex County District Attorney spokeswoman initially told the paper the videos were obtained from Snapchat by the prosecution via preservation order.

The paper subsequently reported that the Snapchat footage obtained by the DA was not one of the three allegedly incriminating videos viewed by the victim's friend.

The judge "ruled the 10-second video depicting the alleged incident was not admissible in court because Snapchat representatives refused to give testimony explaining why only one video of the alleged incident was saved on their server," according to Wicked Local.

Read that story in full here.

>> Photo by Maurizio Pesce, via Flickr/Creative Commons