Criticism Online = Libel? (A years-old feud in a small Oklahoma town could have staggering ramifications online.)

The Setting:

McAlester, OK in Pittsburg County (East-Central, OK, about an hour-and-a-half south of Tulsa, OK)

The characters:

• Jim Bob Miller – District Attorney
• Michael Ethan Miller – Jim Bob’s Son
• Gene Stipe – Former State Senator, Convicted Felon
• Wayne Stipe – Nephew of Gene Stipe
• Harold King – Operator of the “McAlester Watercooler”

The background:

The McAlester Watercooler (McCooler.net) according to it’s home page:

Our goal is to provide the citizens of McAlester, Oklahoma a place to voice their views about the on-going City events. All suggestions are welcome….Keeping it positive doesn’t mean living in denial.

According to a recent report in the Tulsa World:

King said he has been trying to get the district attorney and “most of the Pittsburg County judges” prosecuted for alleged corruption. Commentary on his Web site concerns local politics and the federal government’s investigation and prosecutions of political corruption, kickbacks to legislators, and state funds that were illegally funneled to businesses controlled by Gene Stipe.

King also told The Oklahoman:

The site focuses on McAlester politics — particularly matters related to former state Sen. Gene Stipe.

In December 2005, King filed a police report claiming Stipe assaulted him. Stipe and his brother Francis filed a stalking complaint, accusing King of harassing them. Gene Stipe also obtained a protective order against King and accused him of libel.

According to the Tulsa World report, Stipe, then an associate of Stipe have each unsucessfully gone after King on “libel” accusations, which if successful, would have carried penalties up to a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

On the page if his site where members are encouraged to enter their opinions, is the following quote:

Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. -Thomas Paine – Introduction to Common Sense

The story:

The tumult, it seems, has not yet subsided, because over the weekend, King filed a police report and sought a temporary restraining order against Wayne Stipe.

According to a report in the Tulsa World:

King filed a police report Saturday [August 9, 2008] after Wayne Stipe allegedly hit him in the mouth outside a grocery store, records show.

Wayne Stipe said: ‘This man has been trying to pick a fight with me for the last three years. He was finally successful. He picked a fight with me, and I defended myself. I felt like I was about to be attacked by the crazy man.’

Asked whether King physically assaulted him, Wayne Stipe said King ‘verbally assaulted’ him.

King said: ‘I don’t know how you pick a fight when you say, ‘No, I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.’ He hit. I didn’t.’

So then, on Tuesday August 12, 2008, according to a report in The McAlester News that McAlester police detectives handed him subpoenas:

I was at home and they came and knocked on my door…I understand it was due to a criminal investigation requested by elected officials…[I] was not told which elected officials, or official, requested the investigation…

The Tulsa World is reporting that:

McAlester Police Capt. Don Hass said the investigation concerns ‘criminal libel’ complaints.

King Told The Oklahoman that he:

…researched posts under those pseudonyms and found one common denominator: All had written critically about Pittsburg County District Attorney Jim Miller.

Miller, according to The Oklahoman, had no comment about any investigation, but he told the Tulsa World that, “he thinks some statements posted on the Web site about him and others are libelous.”

King, calling the request for 35 names a “witch hunt,” says he needs more information before turning over any information about the bloggers (commenters) on his site:

I’m waiting specifically for what they need. There has to be a real need — and that need has to be balanced against the Constitutional rights of the blogger. Blanket requests will not be accepted. If they would be specific, I would be happy to contact that person and have them get in touch.

King told the Tulsa World he would file an objection to the subpoena.

There are several possible grounds — ranging (from) Bill of Rights issues to procedural ones. The problem that really concerns me is what they might try next.

The ramifications:

And that, my friends, is a concern for the entire online community. Right now, there is a request by either a prosecutor or a judge for the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of people who have posted criticism (some anonymously or pseudonymously) of local elected officials. The possible ramifications of such a precedent, if successful, are staggering, nationwide, in the online community, particularly the political online community. We need to watch this closely.

The “libel” complaint could easily be used as a weapon to silence dissent. As Joey Senate, past president of FOI Oklahoma Inc. and associate professor of journalism at Oklahoma State University, pointed out to The Oklahoman, the subpoena could have:

…a chilling effect. It just smacks of trying to chill criticism. We have a right to speak anonymously, especially about political matters.

(hat-tip, Okie Campaigns and The McCarvile Report Online)