The law's critics allege it is a tool for those in positions of power, including members of law enforcement, to silence those who speak out against them. The statute is also unevenly applied, the ACLU contends.
Bob Frese has long claimed, without evidence, that the Exeter Police are corrupt. His ability to make those claims without retribution is now heading to the Supreme Court.
“What this law does is it gives public officials in New Hampshire, particularly law enforcement, the power to prosecute people for criticizing them, and that's exactly what happened to our client,” said Brian Hauss, an attorney for the ACLU of New Hampshire. “You would expect to see the court’s dockets absolutely clogged with criminal defamation prosecutions” based solely on what you see on Twitter on a daily basis, Hauss said. “But that’s not what we see. We see a handful of prosecutions.”according to the ACLU’s brief.
“In light of the availability of civil remedies, there is no legitimate need to bring the force of criminal law to bear in this delicate area—particularly given the risk of retaliatory prosecutions when it comes to criticism of public officials themselves,” Hauss wrote in his brief. “The dirtiest[,] most corrupt cop [Frese] ha[d] ever had the displeasure of knowing,” Frese posted, according to the brief. The newspaper agreed to remove the comment at the department’s request. Frese then reposted under a different pseudonym, “Bob Exeter,” repeating his claims and accusing the town’s chief of corruption.
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