Turner implicated in violent ambush after Snapchat messages disclosed

In Arkansas, on April 26, 2021, an ambush resulted in the killings of Shelby and Verser, aged twenty and twenty-three, respectively, as they sat in a parked car after dinner. A query into the event revealed that Shelby's close acquaintance, Turner, was involved in facilitating the attack. Evidence collected from the night indicated that Turner had communicated with the three gunmen multiple times just before the shooting incident. Testimonies from witnesses and phone records placed Turner at the center of the coordination of this violent crime. Afterward, Turner was found attempting to conceal his role in the events, attempting to persuade a key witness, Pavliv, to withhold information about the gun. Pavliv testified about a Snapchat message sent by Turner, which self-destructed. This called into question the admissibility of such testimony under the best-evidence rule. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the evidence was admissible despite the lack of the original message, citing that Snapchat messages are akin to conversations that do not create permanent records and that the original was lost without bad faith, allowing for testimony about its content to be presented in court.