Man Faces Up To 16 Years In Prison For Videotaping The Police
The ACLU of Maryland is defending Anthony Graber, who potentially faces sixteen years in prison if found guilty of violating state wiretap laws because he recorded video of an officer drawing a gun during a traffic stop. In a trend that we’ve seen across the country, police have become increasingly hostile to bystanders recording their actions. You can read some examples here, here and here.
However, the scale of the Maryland State Police reaction to Anthony Graber’s video is unprecedented. Once they learned of the video on YouTube, Graber’s parents house was raided, searched, and four of his computers were confiscated. Graber was arrested, booked and jailed. Their actions are a calculated method of intimidation. Another person has since been similarly charged under the same statute.
The wiretap law being used to charge Anthony Graber is intended to protect private communication between two parties. According to David Rocah, the ACLU attorney handling Mr. Graber’s case, “To charge Graber with violating the law, you would have to conclude that a police officer on a public road, wearing a badge and a uniform, performing his official duty, pulling someone over, somehow has a right to privacy when it comes to the conversation he has with the motorist.”
(via digby)
The fact that the state is even continuing to press these charges is disgusting. Fuck whatever loophole that got the cop off the hook for this. This is a blatant and disgusting abuse of power that is apparent to everyone, regardless of some verbage from a law book. The site www.dumblaws.com has some other gems to prove that every now and then, laws can become outdated and may need to be updated or revised to stay fully applicable to current times. This is clearly one of them.
