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back to article Craiglist rant man on criminal libel rap

A Colorado man who allegedly made anonymous postings on a Craigslist forum attacking his former girlfriend faces two criminal libel raps with a maximum tariff of 18 months' jail, the Los Angeles Times reports. J.P. Weichel, 40, was locked in a custody dispute with his ex-partner over their daughter when he "vented" on the " …

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  1. J
    Alert

    WTF?

    So they do think that it is fine for someone to go around saying (when it's not true) that she abuses the child, performs "sexual services" for someone and all that? I understand they might be criticizing the part about not saying bad things about the dead even when they are true things, but it does not seem like that is the case. And in any case, nobody is forbidding anyone from saying anything. Just applying the consequences... :-P

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  2. ratfox

    But is she dead?

    The article said something about "blacken the memory of one who is dead", but did not said she was dead. So what's the relation?

    By the way, is it actually possible to write (as we're talking of libel and not slander) whatever you want about a dead person, since they cannot sue you back?

    If I write that Churchill slept with Hitler, can I be sued for libel (or stupidity?)

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  3. RichardB

    J

    stop being such a pedantic wanker...

    can I go to jail now?

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @ ratfox

    I'm glad you asked that question. I read the article twice and am under the same confusion, though admittedly it's been one of those days.

    Paris cos I feel about as smart as her after reading this article.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Free Speech?

    Thats right, its free if its been cleared by the PC crowd....

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  6. Mellissa Wright
    Unhappy

    @ J, ratfox, and I am Me --

    The part that applies to the ex-girlfriend is this:

    "Truth is not a defense in such cases [the dead], or in ones that 'expose the natural defects of one who is alive'."

    Since she's alive, they must be using "the natural defects" angle. I just hope the law defines "natural defect."

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  7. Paul

    @ratfox

    No she's not dead. They were just expounding on some of the differences between this and a civil libel law. But the really alarming part, with this law at least, is that truth is not a defense. So even if she really did abuse their child, scam welfare and pay her lawyer with sex, he could still be punished for saying so.

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  8. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    @traced the material to a computer Weichel "had access to".

    I am disgusted that The Register posts material like this. That should read "to which Weichel had access".

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  9. g e

    The truth is out there (albeit it totally random)

    Boris Johnson is really a camel in disguise.

    There.

    I said it.

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