MR2-Sooner86
9/1/2011, 05:36 AM
mNlJYSIzjoU&feature
A man records the police and is nailed with several Class 1 Felonies (which are the same as rape charges) which could equal up to 75 years in prison. The State offered him a plea deal where he would serve probation, have a felony on his record, but not go to prison. He told them no because him taking the plea would admit that it's not alright for citizens to record the police.
There is another case in Boston where a lawyer has sued the State over this issue. (http://thedailywh.at/2011/08/29/photography-is-not-a-crime-of-the-day-6/)
Simon Glik, a Boston lawyer who sued the city and several police officers for arresting him and seizing his phone while he was recording a violent drug arrest on the Boston Common, succeeded in convincing the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that his first and fourth amendment rights had been violated.
The Police Department attempted to claim “qualified immunity” — a doctrine that “protects government officials from lawsuits alleging that they violated plaintiffs’ rights” except in cases where a “clearly established” statutory or constitutional right has been violated — on grounds that Glik was arrested for “illegal wiretapping” (conducting an audio recording “without the consent of both parties”).
The court ruled that Glik’s lawsuit is allowed to stand because “firmly established” rights were violated when his phone was seized. From the ruling [PDF]: “Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting ‘the free discussion of governmental affairs’.”
The court went on to say that “changes in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw,” and therefore First Amendment protections for news-gatherers can no longer “turn on professional credentials or status.”
Good thing Oklahoma doesn't have these types of laws or else Daniel Martin wouldn't have been brought to justice...oh wait. Seriously though if it wasn't for YouTube there wouldn't have been the public outcry that there was for him to be charged. With a law like this, we would've never known about him.
A man records the police and is nailed with several Class 1 Felonies (which are the same as rape charges) which could equal up to 75 years in prison. The State offered him a plea deal where he would serve probation, have a felony on his record, but not go to prison. He told them no because him taking the plea would admit that it's not alright for citizens to record the police.
There is another case in Boston where a lawyer has sued the State over this issue. (http://thedailywh.at/2011/08/29/photography-is-not-a-crime-of-the-day-6/)
Simon Glik, a Boston lawyer who sued the city and several police officers for arresting him and seizing his phone while he was recording a violent drug arrest on the Boston Common, succeeded in convincing the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that his first and fourth amendment rights had been violated.
The Police Department attempted to claim “qualified immunity” — a doctrine that “protects government officials from lawsuits alleging that they violated plaintiffs’ rights” except in cases where a “clearly established” statutory or constitutional right has been violated — on grounds that Glik was arrested for “illegal wiretapping” (conducting an audio recording “without the consent of both parties”).
The court ruled that Glik’s lawsuit is allowed to stand because “firmly established” rights were violated when his phone was seized. From the ruling [PDF]: “Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting ‘the free discussion of governmental affairs’.”
The court went on to say that “changes in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw,” and therefore First Amendment protections for news-gatherers can no longer “turn on professional credentials or status.”
Good thing Oklahoma doesn't have these types of laws or else Daniel Martin wouldn't have been brought to justice...oh wait. Seriously though if it wasn't for YouTube there wouldn't have been the public outcry that there was for him to be charged. With a law like this, we would've never known about him.