California high court to review false-accusations law
By The Associated Press
01.24.02
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court said yesterday it will review a state law making it a crime to knowingly make a false accusation against a police officer.
Six of the court's seven justices voted yesterday in their private conference to hear a Ventura County case in which a state appeals court declared that the law violates the First Amendment.
In October, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura overturned the convictions of Oxnard couple Shaun Stanistreet and Barbara Atkinson. They accused an Oxnard police officer of committing lewd conduct at a Police Activities League event.
Authorities said the charges were false. The two were found guilty of violating the law and spent 50 days in jail in 1998.
The appellate court, in overturning the conviction, acknowledged that law enforcement officers "confront the worst that society has to offer" and "risk their lives to provide citizens a safer and better place to live," but concluded that is not a justification for limiting free expression.
"The importance of providing to citizens free and open access to governmental agencies for the reporting of suspected illegal activity outweighs the occasional harm that might befall a defamed individual," the justices said.
The appeals panel noted the state law made it a crime to make untrue complaints about peace officers, but it was not unlawful to make such allegations against firefighters, elected officials or anybody else.
A similar case in Solano County was dismissed in October. Two women driving to Reno, Nev., were stopped by a California Highway Patrol officer for speeding. Kimberly Joan Reed and Rita Lena Jamerson later complained the officer was discourteous.
Using a tape recording of the stop, the CHP said the officer had acted professionally and the complaint was false. Criminal charges were brought against them. But a Solano County judge said the charges were unconstitutional.
The state Legislature enacted the law in question after the Rodney King incident in March 1991, which prompted a host of false complaints against police officers. The court did not say when it would hear the case.
The case is People v. Stanistreet.