An Ohio jury has found a blogger guilty of sending a crude, but clearly political joke to a state senator who had just dropped out of a Senate president race – and who chose to call the police instead of simply blocking the number.
All it took was for Senator Jerry Cirino to personally call the police chief in his hometown of Kirtland and ask that charges be filed against D.J. Byrnes, who writes under the pen name “The Rooster.”
The image that was sent to the senator depicted the cartoon ogre Shrek holding his genitals, and the accompanying text was a joke at the politician’s expense.
The judge who signed the arrest warrant had received campaign contributions from Cirino and had been endorsed by him.
Cirino also emailed the local police chief, saying he was “officially filing a complaint” and asking the police to “take appropriate actions” – and to make sure the “harassment” stops.
The Shrek image sent by Byrnes was described in the arrest affidavit as “fully nude with an exposed and erect humanlike penis engaged in an act of masturbation.”
Byrnes’ attorneys argued that the image, accompanied by a text that called Cirino “Young Mussolini,” was simply a political statement.
“The image made the exact same point he texted. Cirino had exposed himself,” said defense attorney William Livingston.
“One message and a meme and one reply, all about a single subject: the Senate race that Cirino had just lost,” Livingston said.
Another attorney, J. Michael Murray, told the court that the image of Shrek was meant to show that Cirino was “exposing himself, as he couldn’t win the presidency.”
Murray said that Byrnes, who was arrested in public at the Statehouse in June and held for 23 hours, “spent a night in jail because he offended a powerful politician.”
Prosecutor Matthew Lallo asked the jury: “Tell me how that is not a harassing message.”
Byrnes was found guilty and ordered to pay $200 in fines and court costs. His attorneys plan to appeal.
Cirino, meanwhile, maintained that he was not trying to stifle free speech, saying, “This was about protecting my rights as an individual.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) said in June that the government “generally cannot punish people for saying things to or about public officials, even if some find the speech offensive, insulting or vulgar.”
FIRE also rejected the notion that the image of Shrek was obscene, saying it was “protected political mockery, not obscenity.”
FIRE’s advice to Cirino at the time was: “Block the number.”
The real punishment was the arrest, the night in jail, and the trial, all courtesy of a powerful politician who chose to “pursue” a critic instead of blocking them on his phone.
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