Prosecutor goes after man for his online rants
Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times
Friday, December 5, 2008
(12-05) 04:00 PST Fort Collins, Colo. -- Locked in a visitation dispute with his ex-girlfriend over their young daughter, J.P. Weichel wanted to vent, court records show.
Weichel, 40, allegedly posted comments about the woman on the Craigslist "Rants and Raves" forum, accusing her of child abuse and of welfare fraud, and making crude comments about her sex life. The woman said the postings were defamatory. But, unlike the vast majority of libel cases, which are tried in civil court, local authorities have taken the unusual step of charging Weichel with the crime of defaming his ex-girlfriend online.
Colorado is one of a dwindling number of states with a criminal law against libel. The rarely used statute dates to the 19th century.
But Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson said Colorado's statute applied precisely to what Weichel did.
Weichel could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Michael Liggett, has a policy of not speaking with reporters, according to an assistant at his law office.
Several other lawyers said the case should be handled in civil court. Bringing the government into the dispute infringes on free speech, they said.
"Being a jerk isn't necessarily grounds for felony prosecution," said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
Gregory Lisby, a communications professor at Georgia State University, has tracked criminal libel prosecutions. He said the states that retain such laws - there are 17, according to free-speech groups - have failed to update legislation that stems from 15th century English common law.
Criminal libel prosecutions are "a sledgehammer when a scalpel would do the same trick," Lisby said.
His research has shown the number of criminal libel cases dropping, but the Internet could reverse that, Lisby said. People don't realize that scathing postings or e-mails can make them liable for defamation charges.
"More and more people view the online world as a free-rant place," Lisby said. "They think it's par for the course, but they're setting themselves up for lawsuits" or prosecution.
In civil libel cases, truth is the best defense, and the dead cannot be libeled. But Colorado's criminal statute holds that it is illegal to "blacken the memory of one who is dead." Truth is not a defense in those cases, nor in ones that "expose the natural defects of one who is alive."
According to police and court records, Weichel's postings were purely personal. Weichel's ex-girlfriend contacted police in Loveland last December about anonymous postings.
According to a police report, the postings alleged that she abused her child and concealed it from social workers, that she committed welfare fraud and that she worked for a "crooked" Fort Collins lawyer whom she sexually serviced. The postings were laced with crude references to her body. The woman told police that people who knew her read them and tried to defend her in online comments.
Police traced the postings to a computer to which Weichel had access. In August, Loveland police questioned Weichel at his workplace about the postings.
"Weichel stated he was 'just venting,' " according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant filed in court here.
Abrahamson's office filed two criminal libel charges against Weichel on Oct. 21.
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