An appeals court has ruled that Google Earth images, like photographs, can be used as evidence in a court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday in an appeal by Paciano Lizarraga-Tirado, who claimed that he was on the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border when he was arrested by U.S. agents some years ago on charges of illegal reentry.

He insisted that the Border Patrol agents must have accidentally crossed the border before arresting him, according to court filings.

One of the arresting agents had, however, testified in court that she recorded the coordinates of Lizarraga-Tirado’s arrest using a handheld GPS device. To illustrate the location of those coordinates, the government introduced a Google Earth satellite image.

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