GREELEY, Colo. — A jury on May 23 acquitted a woman of a criminal charge filed after she left dog feces in a political mailing at the office of Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.
Kathleen Ensz, 64, faced a charge of using a noxious substance for the May 31, 2006, incident that ignited charges of political dirty tricks during a heated campaign...
...the district attorney’s office, headed by Ken Buck, a Republican, offered Ensz a plea bargain, but she refused, not wanting to plead guilty to a crime she didn’t believe she had committed. Her defense attorneys argued the act was protected by the First Amendment.
Shannon Lyons, one of her defense attorneys said no one would be on trial if the feces had been deposited at someone else’s doorstep, and that a member of Congress shouldn’t be worried about such matters anyway.
“If you can’t take a little crap, you shouldn’t be in Congress,” he said.
Buck said Musgrave in the past had received death threats and that he would have prosecuted the case even if it had been someone else. He took issue with Ensz’s argument that using dog feces in a political flier amounted to free speech.
story | ist Amendment Center
by way of Daily Weird
~Don't emergency workers, police and prison guards consider feces a bio-toxin? I'm not poo-pooing every Americans right to free expression guaranteed by the 1st Amendment. I'm pointing out how necessary it is that everyone have lawyers ready to explain in what context feces is being used.
Posted by Stubbornson at May 29, 2007 02:11 AM