The Maryland Court system handed down a #FreedomToBlog victory today, declining to prosecute Aaron Walker’s alleged peace order violation. If you recall, Walker was arrested on June 4th after it was found that he violated a peace order against Brett Kimberlin, which barred him from contacting or writing about Kimberlin, a convicted domestic terrorist. Here’s a copy of the case file from the District Court of Maryland’s website:
(Birth date and address redacted)
This news comes ahead of Right Online 2012, which is “a project of Americans for Prosperity Foundation dedicated to advancing liberty and prosperity for all Americans through greater citizen participation online.” Hundreds of Conservative bloggers, pundits, authors, writers, and activists will be attending Right Online, and many of them have been following this case closely. Blogger and web entrepreneur Michelle Malkin had this to say about the case:
“A free speech win this morning…perfectly timed for the Right Online conference, where thousands of bloggers and activists (self included) are gathering to celebrate and defend our 1st amendment rights. Still a long fight ahead on many fronts, but this is terrific news!”
Many believed that Judge CJ Vaughey had ignored prior precedent applicable to Walker’s case, Brandenburg v Ohio. During the case, Vaughey remarked:
“Forget Bradenburg. Let’s go by Vaughey right now, and common sense out in the world. But you know, where I grew up in Brooklyn, when that stuff was pulled, it was settled real quickly.”
While this may have been the reason the prosecution declined to prosecute the alleged peace order violation, the gag order still remains in effect. Or, as Vaughey again put so eloquently:
“Okay. All right, sir, this Order shall remain in effect until 11-15 2012. During that period of time, you not — shall commit any act that causes in person fear and apprehension of bodily harm, any act that places the gentleman in fear and apprehension of grave bodily harm, any assault, rape, attempted rape, sex offense, false imprisonment, harassment, stalking, [inaudible] or malicious destruction of property. The Respondent shall not contact the person in person, by telephone, in writing or any other means, and any other means is putting it on a blog, a Tweet, a megaphone, a — smoke signals — what else is out there — sonar, radar, laser, nothing.“
Emphasis mine. It’s abundantly clear that the judge had no idea how the internet actually works as it applies to this case, and in the end, common sense prevailed from the Prosecutor’s office. A hearing has been scheduled for July 5th on the gag order, so in the meantime, those of us who value free speech will continue to blog on Aaron’s behalf, while he’s relegated to continuing his discourse on The Dukes of Hazard.
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