An Ohio official was arrested for speaking at her own meeting. Her rights were violated, judge says [View all]

Source: Associated Press

An Ohio official was arrested for speaking at her own meeting. Her rights were violated, judge says

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Updated 5:54 PM EST, January 16, 2024

An Ohio elected official’s constitutional rights were violated when her colleagues on a county board of commissioners had her arrested for criticizing the sheriff during a public meeting, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Niki Frenchko, the lone Republican on the three-member Trumbull County Board of Commissioners, was placed in handcuffs by sheriff’s deputies at the commissioners’ meeting on July 7, 2022, and charged under an Ohio law that makes it a misdemeanor to “prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting.” The law prohibits obstructive conduct or speech that “outrages the sensibilities of the group.” The charge was later dropped,

Frenchko — who livestreamed her arrest on Facebook — subsequently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, saying she was ordered to leave the meeting and placed under arrest for exercising her First Amendment right to free speech, and that the sheriff’s department lacked probable cause to charge her.

U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese agreed.

“Here in America, we do not arrest our political opponents,” the judge wrote. “This case tests that longstanding norm as well as our Constitution’s robust protections for free speech that allow us to criticize our representatives and public officials.”

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ohio-official-livestream-arrest-lawsuit-83ae3db51134025ea9fcb65cbf9ad11a