CRIMINAL CASE: Oklahoma v. King (2008 criminal defamation investigation)

Status: No charges filed

Separate criminal complaints were made by Pittsburg County, Okla. District Attorney Jim Bob Miller; and Billie Jean Stipe, and her son Wayne Stripe of McAlester, Okla., against McAlester Watercooler (http://www.mccooler.net/) publisher Harold King. (Billie Jean Stipe is the widow of businessman Francis Stipe, who was the brother of former State Senator Gene Stipe, who filed a 2005 complaint against the same site.) After Miller recused himself, the case was referred to Kay County District Attorney Mark Gibson for investigation.  Although no charges were filed against King over the site, although District Attorney Miller agreed not to seek re-election as part of a deferred prosecution agreement over his efforts to discover the identities of posters to the McAlester Watercooler site.

CRIMINAL CASE: State v. Deterrance Brown, No. __________ (S.C. Cir. Ct. July 29, 2009).
Status: Pending.

The Greenwood County Sheriff's office arrested Deterrance Brown after a 19-year-old man complained that Brown had defamed him in statements on Facebook and MySpace saying that he was holding a cookout for the man “because he is HIV positive.”

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.indexjournal.com/articles/2009/07/30/news/i0730%20facebook.txt

Mink v. Salazar, Civil No. 04-B-23, 344 F. Supp. 2d 1231 (D. Colo. dismissed Oct. 26, 2004), aff’d, Mink v. Dominguez, No. 04-1496, 482 F.3d 1244, 35 Media L. Rep. 1838 (10th Cir. April 16, 2007), reh’g en banc denied (10th Cir. July 19, 2007), cert. denied, Knox v. Mink, No. 07-516, 128 S.Ct. 1122, 169 L.Ed.2d 949 (U.S. Jan. 22, 2008).
Status: Dismissal affirmed in part and reversed in part.

Thomas Mink brought a civil suit challenging the constitutionality of Colorado’s criminal libel statute, after he was threatened with a felony prosecution for mocking one of his college professor on his “Howling Pig” website (www.geocities.com/thehowlingpig/). The district court dismissed the civil suit on grounds that the prosecutor had official immunity, that Mink did not have standing to challenge the statute, since he had not actually been charged under the statute. On appeal, the 10th Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Mink’s privacy claims, but reversed dismissal of his claims against the prosecutors. Mink asked for the entire court to consider the case, but this was denied. The state then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case; the Court declined, sending the remaining claims back to the trial court. The trial court then dismissed the remaining claims (566 F.Supp.2d 1217 (D.Colo. Jun 12, 2008)); Mink is appealing that dismissal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, with oral argument scheduled for Sept. 21, 2009 (No. 08-1250 (10th Cir. filed July 15, 2008))

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.aclu-co.org/docket/200320/200320_description.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-01-20-howling-legal_x.htm
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=12451
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20050405/NEWS/104050057&SearchID=7322286462859
http://www.splc.org/newsflash_archives.asp?id=1160&year=2006
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1672
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1789
Initial trial court dismissal: http://www.aclu-co.org/docket/200320/200320_Ruling_dismissing_case_10-26-04.pdf
Appellate decision: http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/04/04-1496.pdf
U.S. Supreme Court docket: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/07-516.htm

CRIMINAL CASE: State v. _____ (Boulder County sheriff’s investigation) (Nov. 2006).
Status: Investigation for possible criminal libel prosecution

Boulder County sheriff’s detectives launched an investigation to determine who created a MySpace web page that purported to be a profile of a Superior, Colo. woman, but had not been created by her. The profile, named “Dirty Whore,” stated that the woman was interested in meeting “men, women and/or couples who are looking to have a fun time,” and featured photos taken from the woman’s legitimate MySpace profile. No further information is available.

Links and Court Documents:
Fake MySpace profile investigated for libel
Records sought in Web libel case

CRIMINAL CASE: Wisconsin v. Phillips, No. 08CF309 (Wis. Cir. Ct., La Crosse County filed May 20, 2008).
Status: Guilty plea; sentenced to probation.

17-year-old Alex Phillips was charged with criminal defamation, possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child after he posted naked pictures of his former girlfriend, who is 16 years old, on his MySpace profile page. He pled guilty, and was sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service. Links and Court Documents:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/05/21/news/00lead.txt

Docket: http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=0D9BAF68B0DBB4FAADF4749AC44FFC2D.render1?caseNo=2008CF000309&countyNo=32&cacheId=3E5C1C6DD08F7D8B74CA2CB75B41C9AE&recordCount=1&offset=0&mode=details&submit=View+Case+Details

CRIMINAL CASE: Wisconsin v. Bachert, No. 2007CM001559 (Wis. Cir. Ct., Waukesha County filed June 16, 2007).

Status: Prosecution deferred

Joshua Bachert, 19, of New Berlin, Wis. was charged with criminal defamation in June 2007 for a fake profile of a school police officer that he posted on MySpace. On Aug. 18, 2007, the prosecution agreed to defer prosecution as long as Bachert stays out of trouble for a year.

Links and Court Documents:

http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2007/June_07/06162007_03.asp

http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2007/August_07/08222007_04.asp

Docket: http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=7E2C5A8334A924AD0ADFA0ED8D286D62.render2?countyNo=67&caseNo=2007CM001559&cacheId=F0B311BA139015260FF074E500107BAB&recordCount=1&offset=0&mode=details

CRIMINAL CASE: Oklahoma v. King (2005 criminal defamation investigation; no prosecution)
Status: No charges filed
In 2005, an Oklahoma prosecutor declined to file charges based on a former state senator’s complaint alleging that a political website was committing criminal libel, according to The Oklahoman newspaper. State Senator Gene Stipe alleged that the website, McAlester Watercooler (www.mccooler.net), published defamatory statements against him and his family. After investigating the complaint, McAlester, Okla. police referred the case to Pittsburg County District Attorney Chris Wilson, who declined to pursue the case.
Links and Court Documents:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5841806.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed