The publication included insinuations that a school administrator is a lesbian who had a sexual encounter with Princess Diana, that 95 percent of the teachers at the school have sold illegal drugs, that the principal sold crack to students, and that members of the school administration are Ku Klux Klan members who have been seen meeting in the school library dressed in white cloaks and holding Confederate flags. State Judge James H. Hiatt found the writings scatological, bizarre, puerile, and crude, but also clearly satirical. He dismissed the charges against the student, holding that there is absolute First Amendment protection for statements that cannot reasonably be interpreted as making factual assertions. Although we are pleased that our client is no longer threatened with a criminal prosecution, we are disappointed that the criminal libel statute remains on the books as a potential threat to the right of free expression, said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado, which assisted in representing the student. There is no legitimate place for a criminal libel statute in a free society.
Civil lawsuits provide an adequate remedy for defamation.
No one should be threatened with jail for what they write.