Thursday, February 02, 2017


Police Arrest Medford Man for Posting Hate Speech Flyers in Downtown Ashland

Free speech protections bypassed with a flimsy excuse.  How do leaflets "deface" anything?

Authorities have arrested a Medford man for posting hate-speech flyers in downtown Ashland last Sunday night.

Detectives with the Ashland Police Department arrested 28-year-old Justin Anthony Marbury on Tuesday and charged him with five counts of Criminal Mischief.

Marbury is accused of posting flyers referencing white supremacy and the Nazi party. An investigation was launched following several complaints from citizens.

Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara said it is important to note that Marbury was arrested for defacing private property with the flyers, not directly for what the flyers contained.

However, Chief O’Meara said the police department also recognizes the incendiary nature of the flyers made this situation more alarming and concerning to members of the community.

While hate speech is protected under the United States and Oregon Constitutions, the Ashland Police Department vows to do everything it can to ensure all members of the community feel as safe as possible from perceived threats to their safety.

SOURCE

7 comments:

Bird of Paradise said...

And the BLM are a radical group of extremists no diffrent then the NBPP and Ashland is pretty much a liberal city anyway was there once

Anonymous said...

Free speech protections bypassed with a flimsy excuse. How do leaflets "deface" anything?

Mr Ray should know better.

Leaflets are posted using glue, tape, staples, nails, etc. Does he really think those things come off without effort or that they don't leave a residue?

Secondly, the person was posting leaflets on private property. Where in the Constitution does it say that anyone has a right to post or venture onto the property of another?

This is not a case of a restriction of freedom of speech, but the exercise of the rights of others and property owners.

Anonymous said...

Ashland is a bastion of liberals and they will do anything to stop speech they do not agree with. I am sure that if a poster for a stop Trump rally was put on private property next to a neonazi poster only one would be prosecuted. You have the right to not allow posting on your property but if you are selective in which postings you allow you are on very shaky legal ground.


MDH

Anonymous said...

MDH -

You have the right to not allow posting on your property but if you are selective in which postings you allow you are on very shaky legal ground.

This is the second time in as many days that you have made a really ridiculous statement.

What I allow on my property is my choice. I can be selective as to what messages I want conveyed.

There is not one thing that you or the government can do when it comes to the content of non-commercial speech on my property.

Spurwing Plover the Fighting Shorebird said...

Open mouth insert foot its very common amounst liberals

Anonymous said...

I have no problems with the issue re: defacing property.
My concern is (again) with a Police Chief who seems to have a very poor grasp on the First Amendment.
His comment sounds like what he wants to keep people safe from is any thought or idea or expression that they may find confronting.

Anonymous said...

One would assume that the private property in question are the assets of companies like the poles of telephone and electric companies. Most else in the open areas belongs to public authorities and the like.