ALERT

Messenger: They stood up to a Missouri judge for First Amendment rights. They won.

Sep 23, 2022

By Tony Messenger
Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

https://www.facebook.com/tonymess
https://www.instagram.com/tonymess66/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-messenger-4b26649/
https://twitter.com/tonymess
tmessenger@post-dispatch.com

Toni Chritton Johnson heard a kerfuffle in front of the Howell County Courthouse and decided to take a look. ... Johnson owns the West Plains Opera House across the square. It’s an event and catering venue. A former television reporter, Johnson’s old instincts kicked in. She took out her phone and started recording. ... There were several phones taking video that day, Sept. 7, in front of the courthouse. A group of First Amendment advocates and citizen journalists had gathered on the public sidewalk to protest an order signed by Presiding Circuit Court Judge Steven Privette. The order, issued by Privette in May, prohibited the recording of anybody entering or exiting the courthouse, even from public property, like the sidewalk or street.

Regular readers of my column will remember Privette as the judge from southern Missouri who was recently asked to explain himself by the Missouri Court of Appeals for trying to hold Howell County Circuit Court Betty Grooms in criminal contempt of court. He claims she failed to provide him a spreadsheet outlining the various court costs owed by defendants.

Privette’s wife lost an election to Grooms, and the judge declined to recuse himself from the case. This week, the Court of Appeals allowed the contempt proceedings to proceed, though Grooms’ attorney will likely appeal whatever decision Privette reaches in the dispute.

Howell County has had a proliferation of citizen journalists live-streaming interactions with law enforcement and other officials — not much different than what happens in the St. Louis region. Those folks didn’t take too kindly to being told they couldn’t stand on a public sidewalk taking video outside a public building. The First Amendment advocates were told by Howell County sheriff’s deputies that if they didn’t stop recording, they’d be hauled before Privette on contempt charges. ... “You can’t do that,” said Randle Daily, who posts videos on YouTube under the name Show Me State News. “If we’re on a public sidewalk, that’s our First Amendment right.”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_-0uKLJKAV-QKo-sXx8Pag

{snip}