Criminal libel

A U.S. District Court judge ruled that a civil lawsuit can continue against a Louisiana police chief and four officers accused of violating a former officer's constitutional rights. The court declined to dismiss the civil rights case against the officers who arrested the police veteran for criticizing the chief in email messages to a local newspaper.

Colorado's state judiciary committee took the first step this week in repealing a decades-old statute that criminalizes libel.

The bill passed with a 6-0 vote -- with one voting member absent -- on Tuesday, and is expected to go before the full Senate later this week.

“If you say civil libel law has a chilling effect, a criminal libel law might have a freezing effect,” said David Hudson, a scholar at the First Amendment Center and adjunct law professor at Vanderbilt University.

A Colorado man is facing criminal libel charges after his ex-girlfriend complained to the police about posts he allegedly made about her on Craigslist, according to The Associated Press.

A Colorado man was charged this week under the state's rarely used, 45-year-old criminal libel statute for allegedly doctoring photos of a woman to show her, in the local police chief's words, "in a compromising position," The Pueblo Chieftan reported. 

Robert Ezekiel Tafoya would face a maximum of 18 months in prison if convicted as charged, The Chieftan said.

A Wisconsin woman could face up to nine months in jail or a $10,000 fine after being convicted of criminal defamation this week.

Laura Lee Janzig pleaded guilty to criminal defamation in Superior, Wisc. for allegedly false e-mail she wrote to members of the Superior School District alleging that a local teacher was having sex with her students and videotaping it. The accused teacher was put on administrative leave and was investigated by the local police department.

A French judge has begun investigating criminal libel charges brought against U.S. wine critic Robert Parker.

A local district attorney in Oklahoma has filed a criminal libel complaint against a blogger there -- and police are investigating the case.

A Wisconsin Realtor convicted of criminal defamation was sentenced Thursday to 18 months on probation for writing on a local industry Web site that another Realtor was linked to the Russian mob.

Two Wisconsin high school students were charged with criminal defamation after assembling and posting a nude photo collage of a female classmate.