The Leon Law Firm www.theleonlawfirm.com wants to share the following article by Eric Pfeiffer to highlight how social media is finding its way into our judicial system.
Judge jails woman who refused to delete Facebook account
By: Eric Pfeiffer
Yahoo! News
A Kentucky woman who was issued a DUI after she caused a car accident with four teenagers is being sent back to jail after a judge ordered her to delete her Facebook page.
Local NBC affiliate WAVE 3 reports that Paula Asher wrote a dismissive status update to her Facebook page after the accident, stating, “My dumb (expletive) got a dui and I hit a car…lol.”
Asher was allegedly under the influence at the time of the accident and fled the scene before police arrived.
The parents of the four teens injured in the crash asked District Judge Mary Jane Phelps to have the offending Facebook page removed and the judge complied.
However, while Asher has apologized to the judge and the families for her offensive post, she has not deleted her Facebook account. And as a result, Judge Phelps has sentenced Asher to a two-day jail sentence for contempt of court.
“I really wasn’t trying to make fun of (the crash),” Asher said.
However, as SecurityNewsDaily notes, it’s not clear if the judge actually had the authority to order Asher to delete her Facebook page. No specific law was cited in the order, and Asher certainly could make a claim that posting her thoughts about the accident, no matter how crude or offensive, is protected under her First Amendment rights.
“I apologize to everybody,” she said. “I apologize to the judge. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody,” Asher said. “I didn’t think ‘lol’ would put me in jail.”
I had to go pull my time in,” said Asher. “I did and they said I’m not allowed to have Facebook,”Asher told Lex18.com.