Judge decides against fining widow who called police 'pigs'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 4:45 pm, Saturday, February 25, 2017



MOORE, Okla. (AP) A federal judge has dismissed a request to impose a stiff fine against a widow who called police "pigs" on Facebook as she vented her frustrations over the death of her husband in a scuffle.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy DeGiusti declined to sanction Nair Rodriguez for the 18-minute Facebook Live video she made in December, pleading for justice for her husband, Luis Rodriguez.

Nair Rodriguez is suing the city of Moore, its police department and the theater in whose parking lot her husband died after officers intervened in a family argument. She claims authorities violated her husband's civil rights by using excessive force during the altercation in the Oklahoma City suburb.

The defendants asked the judge to sanction Rodriguez for disrupting the case by live-streaming her frustrations from outside a room where an officer was being deposed. They accused her of inciting violence against police with the "pigs" label, and sought a penalty of about $4,000 to recoup legal fees and other expenses.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Judge-sides-with-widow-accused-of-inciting-10959057.php

[msongs]

1. that's nothing compared to what the police call us nt

[Thor_MN]

2. Sanctions against a person being able to express their opinions?

*45 and the GOP haven't repealed the 1st amendment, yet.

[LiberalFighter]

3. When government actors try to restrict speech there needs to be consequences on their part.

[gopiscrap]

4. she was just telling the truth

[Hortensis]

5. Hope it was a no-case-here decision for this federal judge.

But in this era of modern communications, at what point do we consider such exercise of free speech a potential threat to achieving justice? Only when a trial starts? Not even then? Before a jury is chosen?

Professionals could influence an entire community's potential jurors, such as those hired by above-the-law plutocrats whenever anyone tries to bring them to justice. What's the law on this? Somehow I doubt it's caught up to new realities.