A federal judge has dismissed a criminal case against a man accused of using Twitter to conduct a threatening campaign against a religious leader. William Lawrence Cassidy had been jailed for predicting that violence would befall Alyce Zeoli, a Buddhist religious leader, and for urging her to kill herself. The judge said that Cassidy was protected by the First Amendment. “While Mr. Cassidy’s speech may have inflicted substantial emotional distress,” Judge Roger W. Titus wrote in his order, “the government’s indictment here is directed squarely at protected speech.”
I have personal experience with Roger Titus in a case that is on point and relevant. I am a named party in a civil case before Titus. In March 0f 2004 many issues were settled by an Agreed Injunction, which, among other things, required the parties to refrain from making defamatory or derogatory comments or writing about each other. Titus entered a Permanent Injunction. In 2007 I discovered that Roger Mason, owner of a prominent supplement and pharmaceutical enterprise, had been sending anonymous letters to our customers, suppliers, distributors, employees making the most blatant and horrific comments, allegations and threats about myself, my family, and anyone else who supported our case. Among the letters were cartoons portraying my headstone, my body in a cemetery, my body on a gurney in a morgue. In sworn testimony and depositions Mason denied sending or authoring most of the cartoons and anonymous letters even through we are able to show he used identical language and descriptions in email messages/letters he sent to third parties. I filed a motion to have Mason held in contempt. Not only did Titus dismiss my motion, he sanctioned me $25000 for bringing it and when I did not pay it he threw me in the District of Columbia Jail for 97 days where I suffered severe mental and physical abuse. Yes, I was thrown into jail for asking Titus to enforce his own Permanent Injunction! If you think I'm making this up, please look up my appeal to the 4th Circuit, 09-1481. Titus needs to be removed from the bench by impeachment or whatever means are possible. He is a danger to the judiciary and is totally out of control. If you want to learn more just Google "John Acord" + Titus
Loading ...
Judge Invokes 1st Amendment, 'Twitter Stalker' Free to Tweet
Posted by: Erika Morphy December 17, 2011 09:00 AMA federal judge has dismissed a criminal case against a man accused of using Twitter to conduct a threatening campaign against a religious leader. William Lawrence Cassidy had been jailed for predicting that violence would befall Alyce Zeoli, a Buddhist religious leader, and for urging her to kill herself. The judge said that Cassidy was protected by the First Amendment. “While Mr. Cassidy’s speech may have inflicted substantial emotional distress,” Judge Roger W. Titus wrote in his order, “the government’s indictment here is directed squarely at protected speech.”