Court reverses juvenile penalty over controversial MySpace post

INDIANAPOLIS – A judge violated a middle-school student’s free-speech rights when he placed her on probation for posting an expletive-laden entry on MySpace criticizing her principal over school policy on body piercings, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled.\nThe three-judge panel on Monday ordered the Putnam Circuit Court to set aside its penalty against the girl referred to only as “A.B.” in court records.\n“While we have little regard for A.B.’s use of vulgar epithets, we conclude that her overall message constitutes political speech,” Judge Patricia Riley wrote in the 10-page opinion.\nIn February 2006, Greencastle Middle School Principal Shawn Gobert discovered a Web page on MySpace purportedly created by him. A.B., who did not create the page, made derogatory postings on it including one that noted Gobert could no longer control her and that she would wear her piercings as she wished.\nThe state filed a delinquency petition in March alleging that A.B.’s acts would have been harassment, identity deception and identity theft if committed by an adult. The juvenile court dropped most of the charges but in June found A.B. to be a delinquent child and placed her on nine months of probation. The judge ruled the comments were obscene.\nA.B. appealed, arguing that her comments were protected political speech under both the state and federal constitutions because they dealt with school policy.\n“A.B. openly criticizes Gobert’s imposed school policy on decorative body piercings and forcefully indicates her displeasure with it,” the appellate court ruling said.\nThe Court of Appeals found that the comments were protected and that the juvenile court had unconstitutionally restricted her right of free expression.\nGobert said he had not read the court’s decision as of Tuesday afternoon.\n“Based on the news reports I have heard, I am obviously disappointed in the court’s decision,” he said in a statement.