Judge Throws Out Charges Against Arizona Mom Arrested for Criticizing Officials at a City Council Meeting
A judge on Wednesday threw out a criminal charge against an Arizona mother who was arrested at a city council meeting for criticizing a public official, calling her arrest “objectively outrageous.”
Maricopa County Judge Gerald Williams dismissed with prejudice the trespassing charge against Rebekah Massie. On August 20, the mayor of Surprise, Arizona, ordered a police officer to arrest Massie during the public comment section of a city council meeting after Massie criticized a proposed pay raise for the city attorney. The mayor claimed she was violating a rule prohibiting complaints against city officials during public comment, and when she refused to stop speaking, he had her forcibly removed and arrested.
“No branch of any federal, state, or local government in this country should ever attempt to control the content of political speech,” Williams wrote in his dismissal order. “In this case, the government did so in a manner that was objectively outrageous.”
Following her arrest, Massie promptly filed a First Amendment lawsuit, with representation from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), arguing the city council’s speech policies were unconstitutional and that city officials illegally retaliated against her, violating her First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment rights.
However, the threat of criminal prosecution hung over her head.
“For more than two months I’ve been living with the threat of punishment and jail time—being taken away from my kids, even—for doing nothing more than criticizing the government,” Massie said in a FIRE press release. “Free speech still matters in America, and I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have people on my side standing up for our rights with me.”
Massie is a community activist and founder of a nonprofit, The Grand Failure, where she advocates for increased transparency and infrastructure improvements in the city. She was represented in her criminal case by Bret Royl
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