ACLU to challenge Nevada law barring false complaints against cops
By The Associated Press
09.04.01
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CARSON CITY, Nev. — The American Civil Liberties Union says a state law authorizing the prosecution of people who file knowingly false complaints about police is unconstitutional and the group intends to challenge it in court.
The group will use a Reno case already filed in U.S. District Court to mount the challenge, filing a motion to intervene, said Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.
"We have a number of people who have signed affidavits who are reluctant to file complaints about police for fear they will be prosecuted under the law," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The law allowing prosecution for knowingly false complaints was passed by the 1999 Legislature despite testimony from the ACLU that the measure was a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.
The group has a case to challenge the law as a result of a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Washoe County resident Robert Eakins. The Reno City Council voted Aug. 21 to settle the case at a cost of $38,150, but the overall question of the constitutionality
of the law remains alive in the federal lawsuit.
Eakins wrote a letter of complaint about Reno police to Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin after an August 2000 incident at a store. The letter was interpreted as a complaint about police conduct, and in November Eakins spent 14 hours in jail under the 1999 law.
Peck said the motion to intervene in the case would be filed in cooperation with Eakins' attorney, Terri Keyser-Cooper.
Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU of Nevada, said the motion to intervene would be filed in U.S. District Court this week.
"We have people who are in the same situation, who are afraid to go to the (Internal Affairs Bureau) for fear of retaliation," he said.
Peck said a similar law in California was found unconstitutional.
Update
Nevada law punishing false complaints against cops voided
Federal judge finds statute unconstitutionally restricts freedom of speech.
06.29.02
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