Should You be Able to be Arrested for Defamation in an Online Post?
1 year ago
34 Comments
On July 28th, 2006, the man pictured at left (Brad Zimmerman of Hungry Horse, MT) wrote a post on craigslist.com about how angry he was about the treatment of some kids being arrested for pulling a prank.
The official police report said the kids were arrested without incident. However, according to missoulanews.com, Brad Zimmerman posted a different account of the actions:
"The first Kalispell cop on the scene flipped a U-turn in the street and pulled up in front of the boy, Zimmerman wrote. With out (sic) word of explanation, he jumped out of his cruiser and yelled Ok, thats enough of that fucking bullshit. The boy clearly yelled What? I dont understand. The cop then yelled Oh, so you think youre funny? A real funny fuck, huh, and then grabbed the boy by his hair. He yanked the boy down, twisted him sideways, then grabbed his arm and cuffed him. He then kicked the boy in his leg twice, patted him down then shook the boy really hard"
He went on to say about the cops:
"You goose stepping, fag-Nazi cops should have your asses beat by the people you have wronged. I'd like to see the lot of you thrown in a holding cell down at the county jail for the weekend. Maybe after getting repeatedly beat and ass raped you bullies will learn to stop beating on defenseless suspects."
Here's the law in MT about criminal defamation:
"Anything that exposes a person or a group, class, or association to hatred, contempt, ridicule, degradation, or disgrace in society or injury to the persons [sic] or its business or occupation."
So grupies, whatcha think?
Information from: http://missoulanews....C5D282D2548D2
Tags: blog, history, law, privacy
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so like, he used his real name
Yea, I'd be interested to know how they found him using craigslist too...
"In a report filed by Kalispell Police Detective Jim Wardensky, he writes, âIn an effort to preempt any civil discord due to these postings,â he called Craigslist and asked them to take down the post.
According to the report, Craig Newmark, owner of Craigslist, returned Wardenskyâs call the same day, said he would remove the post, and added, according to Wardensky, âIf we supplied him with a subpoena, he could tell me the Internet Providerâs address and e-mail account for where the original posting came from.â
KPD served the subpoena and Craigslist passed on information that led the police to a service provider, CenturyTel, which company the police also subpoenaed. CenturyTel then provided Zimmermanâs name, address and social security number."
It's not defamation if you're accurately recounting events that occurred. As for his little rant at the end, that's more of an opinion piece, don't you think?
I guess they are think his is not accurately recounting events, then its defamation think, again ianal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander_and_libel
Precedent?
http://www.law.duke....dltr0024.html
Repeating my comment @ Digg, researched with the help of the omni-legal jamsterson:
It's worth noting that a 1996 Montana Supreme court ruling on statute 45-8-212 (the crime Zimmerman was charged with) found it unconstitutionally overbroad: âIt violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court in New York Times and Garrison and Article II, § 7 of the Montana Constitution because, on its face, the statute prohibits truthful criticism when not communicated for good motives and justifiable ends.â However, 45-8-212 is still on the books.
http://www.firstamen...aspx?id=17263
http://data.opi.stat.../45-8-212.htm
http://www.montanaba...condlook.html
ok, I'm gonna shut up until i rtfa
dude, when you do, break it down, cause this shite is tl. So I dr.
You have to protect yourself. Always buy stuff on the internet with a stolen credit card.
Cops are a joke, "Lets not go for the real bad guys, lets go for guys who type bad about us on the internet!!"
America is a joke. Not one day passes without getting confronted by the insanity of that country in the news. Every time I think it can't get any more absurd something even more rediculous hits the news. "The greatest country on earth"? What a joke.
You guys who are modding me down are just proving my point. It's pathetic how Americans can not handle how foreigners perceive them. Grow up you fools, and wake up for reality.
Well, I think you might be getting modded down because when you say "America is a joke", by extension you are saying that Americans on grupthink are jokes. People probably don't think they are a joke; instead they think you are poorly said.
Well, you tend to fly off the handle with categorical condemnations, and without any finesse.
If I hear a strange story coming out of the Netherlands, I don't try to offend the Dutch en-masse. And if I did, I wouldn't be surprised if (at least the Dutch) grupies modded the shit out me.
"It's pathetic how Americans can not handle how foreigners perceive them. Grow up you fools, and wake up for reality"
Naw, we just can't stand arrogant assholes no matter where they are from. Just as you cannot stand arrogant Americans. Tact in discussion in eludes some.
Did I say that everyone at grupthink is a joke? I don't think so and I know for a fact that many (intellectual) Americans agree with me that America, what it has become the last ten years, IS a joke.
Those fools who mod me down because their precious patriotic feelings are hurt are a joke too, but I doubt that "everyone" on grupthink is as childish and stupid as those who mod a foreigner down for informing them how America is perceived by non Americans.
You should travel Europe for a while and talk to people and find out how "America" has lost its marbles abroad because of the absurdity that seems to have become their trade mark.
The sad thing is that there are many Americans who do not even realize what a Theatre 'd Absurd they live in, they are so used to the absurdity that for them it's all normal, take that article about that guy who got arrested for venting his opinion for example, unthinkable that this would happen in a normal functioning democratic society, and what about torture? Tasering children? Illegal invasions? Keeping the most people in prison per capita than any other country on earth, including China and Russia? Fiingerprinting tourists before they are allowed in? I can go on and on with adressing the absurdities we read every single day in our news papers about the USA but oh my, I can't mention how it is perceived because I could hurt some poor sob's feelings.
As I said, it's just pathetic, it's even beyond pathetic.
Well said awkwardly and MD.
Ferre, I couldn't agree more with this:
"Every time I think it can't get any more absurd something even more rediculous hits the news."
And I think there are many Americans here who share that experience.
Wow, couple of comments got in before my last.
Just to be clear, I don't think America is a joke. It has nothing to do with patriotism or ignorance. I modded you down because you sound like an asshole.
perhaps you are modded because we have to live here, are working hard to change things, and don't like being reminded of how much it can suck
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30624
In a way, you can hate AMERICA, but not Americans. America is set up to be able to say one thing and do another. Assuming half America is always for and the other half is always opposed, America can do whatever it wants, but then turn around and say it didn't want to, and its true, cause half of us didn't! please dont hate
Google "The Hague invasion act" and maybe you understand why some Dutch people do not hold "America" in such high regards. And I do realize very well that there are many Americans who fight hard to change things, they have my support and sympathy, but I was talking about the fact that I perceive "America" as a joke, not "Americans".
Btw, as we speak, Dutch troops are fighting (and dying) in Afghanistan to help "America" fill up the gas tank of their SUV. It's my tax money paying for that, don't think that US policies do not effect foreigners, it does more than you think.
Dude, Ferre- America has many faults, but I thank my lucky stars all the time that my ancestors got the hell out of northern Europe at the end of the 19th century. Had they not, they eventually would have been forced to wear a Star of David, thrown in a ghetto, and eventually sent to a concentration camp. I suppose I never would have come into existence on your continent. Insanity is not limited to America, no?
"Btw, as we speak, Dutch troops are fighting (and dying) in Afghanistan to help "America" fill up the gas tank of their SUV."
Seems like a fault of the Dutch that chose to send them there. ;)
apchick, my family, including my dad spend time in a nazi concentration camp because of political resistance, we have a tradition of opposing fascists in my family, and we learned to recognize fascism, even when it comes from former allies and is draped in a stars and banners flag.
BTW guys, you'd beter read this when you fight hard to change things, you might end up in American concentration camps.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01042008.html
There's a link in that article to the actual bill, check out who voted for it, and more important, who voted against it.