Saint Paul, Minn-The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota is pleased with the Minnesota Court of Appeals decision in State v. Crawley to invalidate Minn. Stat. § 609.505, subd. 2 (2006), which criminalizes knowingly making false statements that allege police misconduct, but not knowingly making false statements to absolve police. The decision states that this violates the First Amendment's prohibition against viewpoint discrimination.
The ACLU-MN filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Crawley who was convicted of falsely reporting police misconduct. The ACLU-MN argued in its brief that the law is unconstitutional because it singles out false reports of police misconduct (both criminal and non-criminal) and subjects them to harsher punishment than a general false report of a crime. By singling out speech critical of police officers, this statute engages in viewpoint discrimination because it punishes only anti-government speech. Furthermore, by criminalizing statements, the ACLU-MN believes this law has a chilling effect on genuine victims of police misconduct who may wish to report that misconduct, but are afraid of being prosecuted.
"The Minnesota Court of Appeals did a great service to the people of Minnesota when it found the statute to be unconstitutional," stated ACLU-MN Executive Director Charles Samuelson.
Abigail Richey-Allen, an attorney at Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP added, "One of the promises of democracy is that we can speak freely-and even critically-about our government. The Court of Appeals decision helps ensure that Minnesotans are not deprived of this important right."
The ACLU-MN filed the brief in the case of State v. Crawley in the Minnesota Court of Appeals in March. The volunteer attorneys who wrote the brief are Mary Vasaly, Abigail Richey-Allen and Sarah Riskin of Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP.