Federal Court Says Man Arrested For 'Criminally Defaming' Cops Can Continue Suing To Block The Law From Being Enforced

As we've noted multiple times here at Techdirt, criminal defamation laws are unconstitutional, outdated, and almost exclusively used by law enforcement agencies to punish their critics. The ACLU -- along with a victim of New Hampshire's terrible criminal defamation law -- is hoping to have this law struck down as unconstitutional.

Despite the law being clearly unconstitutional and its history of use in the state showing it has mainly been used by cops to go after critics, the state's Attorney General is spending taxpayers' money to defend a law that provides zero benefit to taxpayers.

The problems inherent in an abusable law like this are only made worse in New Hampshire, where law enforcement officers are not only allowed to arrest people, but also initiate prosecution for misdemeanor charges like this one. The state also does not respect the right to counsel in misdemeanor cases, leaving it up to defendants without the means to hire a lawyer to defend themselves against charges brought by cops who are now acting as prosecutors.

The state claims the law is perfectly fine and that Bob Frese -- the man arrested and prosecuted by Exeter police officers for saying Exeter cops were "dirty" and were being covered up for by their "corrupt" chief -- has no grounds to sue the law out of existence. The court disagrees, finding plenty that's disagreeable about the law itself and its use by police officers to punish critics. (via NHPR)

As the court notes in its denial [PDF] of the state's motion to dismiss, Frese has already twice been subjected to arrest and prosecution under this law.

In 2012, the Hudson Police Department interviewed Frese after a local life coach complained about comments Frese posted on the online platform Craigslist. In those posts, Frese repeatedly called the coaching business a scam and claimed the coach had been charged with distributing heroin. The Hudson Police Department ultimately charged Frese with harassment and criminal defamation and obtained an arrest warrant signed by a justice of the peace. Frese, without counsel, pleaded guilty to the charges and was fined $1,488, with $1,116 suspended on the condition he stay in good behavior for two years.

More recently, in 2018, the Exeter Police Department arrested and charged Frese with criminal defamation after he pseudonymously posted comments on the Exeter News-Letter’s Facebook page concerning a retiring Exeter police officer. In his first comment, Frese, under the pseudonym “Bob William,” stated that the retiring officer was “the dirtiest most corrupt cop that I have ever had the displeasure of knowing . . . and the coward Chief Shupe did nothing about it.” The Exeter News-Letter removed this comment at the police department’s request. After the comment was deleted, Frese submitted a second comment under the pseudonym “Bob Exeter” stating: “The coward Chief Shupe did nothing about it and covered up for this dirty cop. This is the most corrupt bunch of cops I have ever known and they continue to lie in court and harass people . . . .”

The second prosecution of Frese was terminated after the state's Civil Rights Division determined the officers had no probable cause to arrest him due to a lack of "actual malice" in Frese's online comments. It's this second arrest that forms the basis for Frese's lawsuit, which seeks a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law.

The state argued Frese had no standing to sue, because he did not state he intends to… um… keep violating the law, I guess. In other words, the AG says Frese has nothing to fear from the state since he hasn't said he's just going to keep making defamatory statements. The court says Frese's intent isn't the issue here. It's that Frese has already been baselessly arrested and charged for criticizing law enforcement. Since he intends to keep criticizing law enforcement, he has established a credible fear that he'll be arrested and prosecuted again for future criticism.

[T]he criminal defamation statute “arguably . . . proscribe[s]” Frese’s intended future conduct… The criminal def