Stupid law enforcement...

[Pyro]

So someone I know was having a problem with her husband's ex-wife and went on her MySpace account and said some mean things about her and seeing as it is the internet there was no harm no foul. So the ex-wife found out about this posting and read the insults and the situation soon went from no harm no foul to a criminal act. The ex-wife then reported this matter to the police and my friend was then arrested and charged with defamation of character and promptly put on probation for seven days.

After the ruling, my friend then went back to her MySpace page and updated the situation and revealed that she had recieved just seven days probation. The ex-wife also read that and reported it for some reason and then the judge had my friend rearrested and brought back to court where she was given a sentence of five days in jail.

Her family hired a lawyer who did some digging around and found a ruling that had been passed that basically stated that what my friend did was not considered defamation of character. The prosecutor and judge neglected to look into this so they did not even know this law existed. My friend had already spent two days in jail and was released after this was brought to the attention of the court.

So now, my friend is suing the county she lives in for damages and loss of income. What do you think of this?

[Devek]

He should erm.. talk to a lawyer cause trying to sue the state/county/etc is pretty hard

[archibaldcrane]

He should actually try to get a suitable legal defense -before- he's convicted of a crime. Claiming inadequate representation after the fact is pretty hard, which is basically what he's saying - "Someone should've pointed this out during the case!"

[Cheerios]

Myspace is serious business.

[MF Perm]

So someone I know was having a problem with her husband's ex-wife and went on her MySpace account and said some mean things about her and seeing as it is the internet there was no harm no foul. So the ex-wife found out about this posting and read the insults and the situation soon went from no harm no foul to a criminal act. The ex-wife then reported this matter to the police and my friend was then arrested and charged with defamation of character and promptly put on probation for seven days.

After the ruling, my friend then went back to her MySpace page and updated the situation and revealed that she had recieved just seven days probation. The ex-wife also read that and reported it for some reason and then the judge had my friend rearrested and brought back to court where she was given a sentence of five days in jail.

Her family hired a lawyer who did some digging around and found a ruling that had been passed that basically stated that what my friend did was not considered defamation of character. The prosecutor and judge neglected to look into this so they did not even know this law existed. My friend had already spent two days in jail and was released after this was brought to the attention of the court.

So now, my friend is suing the county she lives in for damages and loss of income. What do you think of this?

After they win the civil suit they should move to have the prosecutor and judge disbarred. Serves those dipshits right for deciding to take matters into their own hands and not serving the people.

Not only did they damage a persons everyday life over nothing, they wasted taxpayer dollars in court time and jail time.

[skurlover]

Can I play internet lawyer too please?

Didn't it strike you as a bit farfetched right about, oh I don't know.........MYSPACE!?!?!?!

[MF Perm]

Can I play internet lawyer too please?

Didn't it strike you as a bit farfetched right about, oh I don't know.........MYSPACE!?!?!?!

Dumber shit has happened in this country, so no.

[Shuemue]

Can I play internet lawyer too please?

Didn't it strike you as a bit farfetched right about, oh I don't know.........MYSPACE!?!?!?!

Dumber shit has happened everywhere, so no.

Fixed.

[Septimus]

Sounds like your friend and her husband need to move as far away from her as possible, and probably change their names as well so she can never find them.

[guartz]

hey, sounds like a good civil lawsuit against his wifey. If the state thing doesn't go through.

[dietvanillapepsi]

IANAL, but doesn't defamation fall under civil law and not criminal law (i.e. not a jailable offense.) This is the first that I have heard of a person in the "land of the First Amendment" being jailed for something they wrote on the net. If the other lady had a problem with it then she could have sued. I am surprised that police were ever involved.

I would really, really like to read what she wrote. There has got to be more to the story.

[Pyro]

Well, that is the only information I got. I have no clue what she wrote but with it only being considered defamation of character it obviously was not anything violent or threatening. Regardless, defamation of character has to be the dumbest and biggest contradiction of free speech that I have ever heard of.

[guartz]

IANAL, but doesn't defamation fall under civil law and not criminal law (i.e. not a jailable offense.) This is the first that I have heard of a person in the "land of the First Amendment" being jailed for something they wrote on the net. If the other lady had a problem with it then she could have sued. I am surprised that police were ever involved.

I would really, really like to read what she wrote. There has got to be more to the story.

haha, technically I can send people to jail who say untrue things about me?. lol, defamation...

wait, holy shit.. I looked it up, it is a civil thing. How the hell did he end up in jail? Unless he threated to kill her or something.

[Pyro]

She didn't get sent to jail for the defamation of character charge. She only got probation for that charge. She went to jail for what I'm guessing was going back on MySpace and bragging about only getting seven days of probation. I'm sure there is probably more too it but that's all I know. It happened in a county with huge southern values in middle Georgia so I can't say I'm surprised at what the judge did. It's my old home town and I actually got a ticket once for having a dirty license plate.