The defendant in United States v. Gagliardi, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 24644 (2d Cir. Oct. 22, 2007) claimed that emails and transcripts of instant-message chats offered by the government were not properly authenticated because they were cut from his electronic communications and pasted into word processing files. The defendant argued that they were not originals and could have been edited or fabricated by the government. The Second Circuit rejected this contention, holding that ‛[t]he bar for authentication of evidence is not particularly high.... Generally, a document is properly authenticated if a reasonable juror could find in favor of authenticity.“ It concluded:

[T]he standard for authentication is one of "reasonable likelihood" ... and is "minimal." ... The testimony of a witness with knowledge that a matter is what it is claimed to be is sufficient to satisfy this standard. See Fed. R. Evid. 901(b)(1). In this case, both the informant and [the government agent] testified that the exhibits were in fact accurate records of [defendant’s] conversations.... Based on their testimony, a reasonable juror could have found that the exhibits did represent those conversations, notwithstanding that the e-mails and online chats were editable. The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the documents into evidence.

The ‛reasonable likelihood“ standard is the general principle of note. The decision is clearly correct. Photos, films and videos can also be distorted. That doesn’t render them inadmissible. It is the reason we vest discretion in trial judges.