WORCESTERâ The lawyer for a woman ordered by state police to remove a video from her Web site wants a federal judge to impose sanctions against Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and state police Superintendent Thomas G. Robbins for filing a misleading memo with the court.
This is the lead in today’s Telegram & Gazette article chronicling the ongoing saga of how the government is trying to muzzle a netizen’s right to free speech.
The case was continued to next Friday. At issue in this latest twist was whether the Commonwealth tried to trick Leominster mom Mary Jean with a misleading memo.
The larger question here is why is the AG even waging this battle? He should be investigating the State Police for swarming Paul Pechonis’s home (where a baby-cam captured the intrusion) after he was in handcuffs.
Mary Jean’s attorney Daniel Shea thinks the Commonwealth is over reaching by applying a law designed to fight the mob in an attempt to cover up police misconduct. As Richard Nangle’s article on yesterday’s hearing points out, Mr. Shea…
…wants the court to rule that the state law in question is unconstitutional as it would apply to Ms. Jean. He maintains that publication of the video served the public interest by revealing that state police did not show a warrant before searching Mr. Pechonisâ home and believes the case could establish a precedent.
Anyone who sees the Internet as an important place for the voice of the little guy to be heard in a robust democracy should tell Mr. Reilly to just apologize to Mary Jean for any trouble the Commonwealth may have caused her and move on.
