Brick Man Facing Questionable Harassment Charge
Sometimes the State should just stay out of private matters. A New Jersey attorney who is in the midst of a divorce from a New York radio personality has been charged with violating a restraining order and harassing his former wife by allegedly posting a video of her on a MySpace Web page. The attorney, who resides in Brick, was arrested at his home at 11:30 p.m. Sunday by police. He posted $5,000 bail and was released.
The videotape, which the attorney allegedly posted to a myspace page, was a deposition that his former wife gave during their divorce proceedings. The criminal complaint for harassment states that the video which appeared on MySpace consisted of "the most emotional, personal and embarrassing portions" of testimony given by his former wife. The criminal charge also said the posting of the video was done with a purpose to annoy or alarm the victim. For additional information on this story, read the Asbury Park Press article entitled "Brick man charged over MySpace 'meltdown' video".
I don't know the background of this situation and I understand that there is a previous restraining order involved but based on these facts alone I think that a criminal charge for harassment is completely inappropriate in this case. To sustain a charge for harassment in New Jersey under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4, the State must show that, with the purpose to harass another, the defendant made a communication likely to cause annoyance or alarm. In this case, I think the State is clearfly infringing on the attorney's right of free speech. The posting of a video on a MySpace page is not necessarily a communication under the statute. Moreover, it seems like the State will have extreme difficulty proving that he posted this video with the purpose of harassing her. Did the defendant even know that his ex-wife had access to his MySpace page to view the video? I do not believe his actions are sufficient in this factual scenario to sustain a charge for harassment in New Jersey.
