Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Crime and Consequences

Criminal Law

: Crime and Consequences

Blog Scan

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

An Internet Harassment Decision That Has Some Worried About Criminal Libel: Eugene Volokh has an interesting post on an Internet harassment case decided last week by the Ohio Court of Appeals. The title asks "The Return of Criminal Libel, With Truth Not Being a Defense?" Volokh then answers: "That's how I read the prosecution and conviction in State v. Ellison (Ohio Ct. App. Oct. 10)." The case, State v. Ellison, addressed whether a high school teen could be found guilty of telecommunications harassment under Ohio's R.C. 2917.21(B) when she had posted on ?MySpace? page a picture of a rival teen captioned ?Molested a little boy.? Volokh's interest in the case arises from its First Amendment implications. As Volokh states: "So we have a criminal prosecution for speech that supposedly "harass[es]" (or perhaps "abuse[s]") by making allegations of criminal conduct ? but the state has no obligation to prove falsity, and the defendant isn't even entitled to a defense of truth...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).