Charges Dropped In North Port Video Arrest
NORTH PORT - A North Port man arrested on a felony charge in January for taking video of police working a traffic stop will not be prosecuted, the State Attorney's office announced Thursday.
Steve Horrigan, 57, was charged with felony eavesdropping and misdemeanor obstruction when he used his smartphone to record North Port Police officers making an arrest across the street from his home. Horrigan, a computer technician and amateur videographer, spent a night in jail and could have faced five years in prison if convicted of eavesdropping.
But in deciding not to press charges, Assistant State Attorney Eric Werbeck wrote "the State would be unable to prove the officer enjoyed an expectation of privacy with the defendant" and that the state likely could not "prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer's duties were obstructed by the defendant's conduct."
Horrigan said Thursday he wasn't surprised by the decision. The State Attorney's Office "couldn't have come to any other conclusion because there just isn't any case law on the other side," he wrote in an email.
The North Port Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. But the video — held in evidence for six weeks before being returned — convinced the state that Horrigan acted within his First Amendment rights.
The case drew national attention as free speech and civil liberties advocates said officers across the country are arresting citizens who record their actions in public, even though it is rarely illegal to do so.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120329/ARTICLE/120329452/2416/NEWS
