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Judge, citing First Amendment, overturns R.I. union official's cyberstalking conviction [The Providence Journal, R.I. :: ](Providence Journal (RI) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 31--PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Superior Court judge on Wednesday cleared a top teachers' union official of a charge that he stalked a former state lawmaker over the Internet during a bruising primary election in 2010. Judge Susan E. McGuirl ruled that the emails sent by John A. Leidecker, an assistant executive director with the National Education Association of Rhode Island, mocking then-Rep. Douglas W. Gablinske for his positions on bridge tolls, the statewide school funding formula and contract issues, were protected political speech under the First Amendment. "I feel that the speech here is protected by the Constitution," McGuirl said, noting that the case was the first of its kind in Rhode Island. The language in the emails, while annoying, did not rise to the level of threatening, she said. She also could not find that it was without any legitimate purpose as it addressed issues up for political debate at that time, she said. A person running for office, such as Gablinske, becomes a public figure and can expect some level of criticism and annoying commentary, McGuirl said. McGuirl based her ruling on briefs submitted by Leidecker's lawyer, Robert B. Mann, and Carole L. McLaughlin, of the state attorney general's office, as well as transcripts of his District Court trial in 2011. Her ruling overturned a guilty verdict by District Court Judge Stephen M. Isherwood, who had fined Leidecker $100 for the misdemeanor. Leidecker appealed his conviction to Superior Court. Leidecker was pleased with McGuirl's ruling. He disputed characterizations that he had rigged the elections to bring about Gablinske's political downfall. "This was basically just because I criticized a political posture," he said. Gablinske, who was not in court, faulted McGuirl's ruling in a statement, saying the message it sent "to all Rhode Islanders ... and the schoolchildren of this state, would encourage, rather than punish, these types of intimidating and illegal actions." "Mr. Leidecker never denied the charges and freely admitted in court that he did send me these harassing and stalking emails, but contends that he has a constitutional right, under free speech to harass and stalk," Gablinske said. "The fact that I was an elected official does not mean someone can stab me, kill me or harass me; they have no constitutional rights to do so and those actions are not protected under our constitutional rights to free speech, which makes this decision by Judge McGuirl all the more egregious." Bristol police charged Leidecker, of Cranston, with knowingly transmitting false information about Gablinske over the Internet Nov. 30, 2010. Lt. Steven Contente wrote in the affidavit supporting the search warrant that Leidecker had impersonated Gablinske, a union foe who called for pension reform, in emails that misstated his political positions. The police later changed the charge to a count of cyberstalking. Under the law, it was alleged that Leidecker seriously alarmed or bothered Gablinske for no legitimate purpose. The law states that his conduct must "be of a kind that would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress or be in fear of bodily injury." Leidecker asserted that the emailswere meant as parody based on Gablinske's politics and the lack of respect he displayed toward unions by calling them pigs. Leidecker created an email account for a fictional person named Walter Flatus, a canine character in a popular children's book who passes gas. He also set up an email account for a Doug Gablinski. Leidecker then created a chain of email communications between the characters. In one exchange, the fictional Gablinski wrote to Flatus: "Bridges, smidges. Don't bother calling me. You're unhappy? Wah! Wah! Wah!" Gablinski tells Flatus to chill out. Leidecker forwarded the fictional exchanges to Gablinske, who was facing a tough reelection battle. Gablinske, a two-term Bristol Democrat who lost in the primary and ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign, accused NEARI of political "thuggery" after Leidecker's arrest. Gablinske testified at the trial before Judge Isherwood that the knowledge that someone was out there impersonating him and misrepresenting his political positions during a nasty primary battle caused him sleepless nights, nervousness and nausea. Then, after he decided to launch a write-in campaign, two signs appeared about a quarter-mile from his house on Kickemuit Avenue in Bristol, he said. The signs -- one bright orange, the other neon pink -- implored voters to vote for the "winds of change" and support Walter Flatus to "write a wrong." He said he took the matter to the Bristol police after he was defeated by a union-backed primary opponent. State lawmakers this past session revised the cyberstalking law to address online impersonation. The General Assembly passed and Governor Chafee signed legislation, filed at the request of Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, making it a felony for someone to use the name or persona of another or a public official to create a webpage, post messages on a social networking site or send electronic communications, without the person's consent, with intent to harm or defraud. ___ (c)2014 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |