You should be able to say or write anything you want without fear of going to jail.
So believes state Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, who will introduce a bill in January's 2006 Legislature to repeal Utah's current criminal slander and libel law, which is "unconstitutional, antiquated and outdated," he says.
McCoy, an attorney, would do nothing to Utah's current civil slander, libel or defamation of character laws. So those who feel they have been wronged in speech, print, video, e-mail or other media could still sue the bad-mouther for civil cash damages.
"You just shouldn't go to jail for free speech," says McCoy. "The time for criminalizing speech is over; it's silly."
He has some good company in his corner — the U.S. Supreme Court and the Utah Supreme Court — which have both struck down criminal libel laws.
Utah prosecutors "would not oppose repealing the criminal libel and slander law," said Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors.
But McCoy says he'll also explore repealing Utah's criminal defamation of character statute, which he opposes because there should be no criminalization of any kind of free speech.
Boyden said prosecutors likely would oppose that, since the criminal defamation law doesn't have the clear unconstitutional problems that the slander and libel law does.
Utah's current criminal libel law provides for a class B misdemeanor if convicted — up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
That's the same penalty for assault, resisting arrest, driving under the influence, reckless driving, possession of under 1 ounce of marijuana, shoplifting goods valued at under $100, trespassing and dog bites — also class B misdemeanors.
"I have a pet peeve: If a law is unconstitutional, it's deadwood. We should repeal it or fix it," making it useful again, says McCoy.
Attorney Randy Dryer, a libel expert, agrees with McCoy on getting rid of the state's criminal libel statute
"It's bad legal policy. It's bad public policy," says Dryer, who has taught libel law classes for various news organizations. "If we criminalize speech, half of the Founding Fathers would have been in prison" for criticizing government.
Utah's criminal libel and defamation statutes have only been used twice in recent years, said Dryer and McCoy.
Five years ago, a Milford High School student wrote nasty comments about his high school principal and others in his community on a personal Web site. The county attorney prosecuted him, and the case ultimately reached the Utah Supreme Court, which struck down the law because it didn't include basic libel provisions outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court — like proving "actual malice" or having truth as a complete defense, said McCoy.
Local press-freedom attorney Jeff Hunt filed a brief in that case, representing a number of media groups including the national Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "In this day and age, there's no place for criminalizing speech," Hunt said.
"We've found that these criminal libel and defamation laws have been used to make mischief," Hunt said. "More often than not a prosecutor (who may stand for election) has a political motivation in filing the case. It has been really abused, and it's good to get rid of them."
In 1987, former Salt Lake County Attorney Ted Cannon was convicted of defaming a TV reporter. Cannon was indicted by a county grand jury, which brought so many other charges that the Legislature later reformed the grand jury system in Utah after one official called it a "Star Chamber" that unfairly treated citizens.
Just this summer a Farmington, N.M., man was convicted of criminal libel for carrying a sign in public that called a police officer — who had argued with the man over a traffic incident — a "liar" and a "dirty cop," reported USA Today.
A Colorado college student was being investigated by police for criminal libel after they seized his computer, which had on it a doctored picture of a college professor disguised as a member of the rock group KISS. The investigation was later dropped and no criminal libel charges filed, the newspaper said.
"Thirty-three other states have repealed their criminal libel and defamation laws, and Utah, now in the minority, should also," Dryer said.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com