Rick Strandlof, AKA Rick Duncan (THE DENVER POST | )
Rick Strandlof may have lied about being a decorated Iraq War veteran, but those lies are protected by the First Amendment, according to his attorney and a civil liberties organization.
Strandlof, 32, is charged in U.S. District Court in Denver with five misdemeanors related to violating the Stolen Valor Act — specifically, making false claims about receiving military decorations.
He is accused of posing as "Rick Duncan," a wounded Marine captain who received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. Strandlof used that persona to found the Colorado Veterans Alliance and solicit funds for the organization.
In May, real veterans serving on the board of the Colorado Veterans Alliance became suspicious of Strandlof's claims, and the FBI opened an investigation.
On Tuesday, the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties group based in Virginia, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Strandlof's case attacking the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act.
John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said the law is poorly written and should not be used to prosecute people for simply telling lies.
"You have to redraft the law to prove a particularized damage," he said. "If you run around Denver and yell out, 'I got the Medal of Honor,' you are guilty of the statute the way it is written."
In a recent motion to dismiss the case, Strandlof's attorney, Robert Pepin, wrote that "protecting the reputation of military decorations is insufficient to survive this exacting scrutiny."
Judge Robert Blackburn has not yet set a hearing on Pepin's motion to dismiss.
Pepin also wrote that his client suffers from bipolar personality disorder and has other mental health issues.
Rutherford Institute attorney Douglas McKusick argues that Strandlof's lies did not "inflict harm" upon the medals he lied about or debase the meaning of the medals for the veterans who actually earned them.
"Such expression remains within the presumptive protection afforded pure speech by the First Amendment," McKusick wrote. "As such, the Stolen Valor Act is an unconstitutional restraint on the freedom of speech."
The Stolen Valor Act prohibits people from falsely claiming they have been awarded military decorations and medals.
The act, signed into law in 2006, carries a punishment ranging from fines to six months in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Sibert wrote that the false statements made by Strandlof are not protected speech.
"Even if this court finds that the Stolen Valor Act affects protected speech and subjects it to the strict scrutiny standard of the First Amendment, the Act withstands the scrutiny because it serves the compelling interest of protecting the reputation and meaning of decorations and medals," Sibert wrote. "Since the Act's prohibition is narrowly tailored, its criminal penalty does not violate the First Amendment."
Sibert also argued that punishing people for lying about military decorations does not chill the flow of political free speech or freedom of the press.
"However, his lying about receiving military medals, false statements of fact in an effort to increase his status and credibility, fall into the class of unprotected 'utterances' " that are not constitutionally protected, Sibert wrote.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment