Government Official’s Attempt to Use an Anti-Stalking Order Against a Citizen
I’ve written about some other such cases in my Overbroad Injunctions article; this case involves a somewhat different set of facts than the ones I discussed there, but I thought it worth noting as well. (I agree that some citizen behavior related to officials—such as violence or true threats of crime—should indeed be enjoinable and even criminally punishable; but, unsurprisingly, protective order statutes that aren’t limited to violence or true threats are sometimes used to target behavior that isn’t violence or true threats.)
From Frenchko v. Shook, decided Monday by Ohio Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Lucci, joined by Judges Mary Jane Trapp and Robert Patton; note that the opinion is long, and this excerpt necessarily omits some details about Shook’s background (and alleged past mental health problems):
On November 14, 2023, {Niki (Michele Nicole)} Frenchko, a Trumbull County Commissioner, filed a petition requesting the trial court to issue a CSPO {Civil Stalking Protection Order} against appellee, Shawn Shook, a resident of Warren Township in Trumbull County, Ohio, who frequently attends the commissioners’ meetings.
The trial court denied the CSPO request, and the Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. Here’s an excerpt from Frenchko’s factual allegations:
Frenchko provided evidence pertaining to Shook’s behavior and comments at commissioners’ meetings and other events during this time period. Frenchko introduced into evidence video of portions of the commissioner’s meetings at which Shook made comments after the public was invited to speak on matters “for the good of Trumbull County.”
In his comments, Shook questioned Frenchko as to her mental health; maintained that her behavior of “playing with [her] hair, taking [her] glasses on and off, shuffling [her] papers, [and] scraping out [her] fingernails” were “games” and part of her “playbook”; maintained that Frenchko had criticized others for not coming to work or not parking in the correct locations, when Frenchko herself did not come to work and parked in designated handicapped spaces. During these comments, Shook made references to Frenchko’s attendance at events outside of the commissioners’ meetings.
During her testimony, Frenchko maintained that Shook’s comments at the commissioners’ meetings were unrelated to county business, and she believed Shook’s intent was to intimidate her and to demonstrate to her that he was tracking her whereabouts. Further, Frenchko maintained that Shook obtained some of the information related to her location from her personal Facebook page, which she had block
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