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Former high school student pleads guilty to criminal libel
Colorado one of 17 states to have criminal libel statute
December 21, 2006
The Grand Junction Sentinel reported that Todd
Gugat, 18 and a former student at Fruita Monument High School, admitted to a
Mesa County magistrate that he had been impersonating Bill Johnson, his former
teacher, online. Gugat took photos from Johnson's personal MySpace.com page and
created another fake, sexually suggestive profile for him on the popular social
networking Web site.
Johnson was placed on administrative leave earlier
this year during a police investigation of the "suggestive and threatening"
messages that had been sent to students from the profile, the Sentinel
reported.
Johnson was reinstated in early September after he was cleared
in the investigation. Johnson also told the Sentinel that he knew Gugat
was the guilty party, and authorities "had him red-handed. ... There was no one
else that could have done it."
The Mesa County district attorney dropped
a criminal impersonation charge from Gugat's case as part of a plea agreement.
Gugat could face up to two years in a youth correctional program, probation or
six months in the county jail. A sentencing hearing will be held in February
2007, the newspaper reported.
Colorado is one of 17 states with a
criminal libel statute, which is different from the civil libel laws in all 50
states that allow victims of allegedly defamatory statements to seek
compensation from speakers. Criminal libel laws allow the state to fine or
imprison speakers of defamatory statements.
In December 2003, Thomas
Mink, a University of Northern Colorado student, was arrested and had his
computer seized by police after he created a Web site critical of a Northern
Colorado professor. Although he was ultimately not charged, Mink sued to have
the criminal libel law declared unconstitutional. The U.S. District Court for
the District of Colorado dismissed his case, stating because Mink was never
charged under the law, he lacked standing to challenge it. Mink appealed, and
has vowed to continue his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, if
necessary.
In April 2005, the Student Press Law Center joined with the
Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law in filing an amicus —
or "friend-of-the-court" — brief with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, stating that not only should the court allow Mink's claim to go
forward, but also should find that all criminal libel statutes are
unconstitutional because they cannot withstand First Amendment
scrutiny.
The Mink case was argued before the 10th Circuit Court on Jan.
9, 2006. A decision is still pending.
By Scott Sternberg, SPLC staff
writer
© 2006 Student Press Law Center
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