Ohio podcaster seeks acquittal of unconstitutional felony “intimidation” charges

Yesterday, our firm entered an appearance in the Erie County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Ashli Ford, a popular “true crime” podcaster and victim advocate whose work mostly focuses on law enforcement in the Erie and Huron county areas. By her public commentary and advocacy, Ford intentionally sets out to spur law enforcement officials to action on certain cases and to expose and root out corruption in local governments.

Apparently displeased with Ford’s commentary about them, and with intent to muzzle her constitutionally protected speech, certain law enforcement officials in Huron and Erie County recently decided to punch back by having Ford prosecuted with various crimes in two different courts, including with a 19-count felony indictment in Erie County.
Two weeks ago, a visiting retired judge, after a bench trial, acquitted Ford on 15 of these counts, all of which related to Ford’s speech about government officials and their handling of certain matters of public interest, but convicted Ford on 4 felony counts of “Intimidation” under Ohio Revised Code section 2921.03. These “Intimidation” counts related entirely to a single Facebook post that Ford published to her highly trafficked page, in which she criticizes a group of public officials of the City of Norwalk—including the mayor, police chief, and prosecutor—and demands that these public officials dismiss criminal charges that they had recently brought against her in a separate case in the Norwalk Municipal Court.

As set forth in the motion for acquittal that we filed for Ms. Ford yesterday, asking the judge to reverse and vacate her conviction on the “Intimidation” counts, the Facebook post for which Ford was convicted consists entirely of classic political speech and does not contain any content that could be reasonably construed as a “true threat” so as to overcome the First Amendment’s robust protections for such speech.

It’s always cause for grave concern when public officials, like the Erie County Prosecutor and Norwalk officials here, forget that the United States of America is a nation that was founded on protest, and where the right to criticize and petition public officials is paramount. Decades of precedent from our State’s and Nation’s highest courts affirm that speech—especially on matters of public concern—is protected by the First Amendment even when it includes “vulgar,” “offensive,” “foolish,” “immoderate,” “vehement, caustic, [or] sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials,” and even when such speech “may be upsetting and cause distress or embarrassment.”

The U.S. Supreme Court in fact recently affirmed, in 2023, that courts must be especially careful to ensure that the prosecution of allegedly “threatening” speech does not have a “chilling effect” on “non-threatening expression,” due to the importance of “providing breathing room for more valuable speech,” and ensuring “the uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate that the First Amendment is intended to protect.

Unfortunately, such a “chilling effect” seems to be exactly what was intended by the public officials who ensured Ms. Ford’s production here, and will prevail unless her conviction is reversed. A brief look at the viral news coverage of Ford’s conviction, which has made headlines nationally and globally—including the UK Daily Mail’s absurd headline, “Popular female podcaster is convicted for meddling with criminal case” (her own criminal case, in Norwalk Municipal Court, in which she was acquitted)—communicates an unmistakable message: That citizens who criticize and demand accountability from public officials, especially those who, like Ms. Ford, gain a large following for their commentary, need to keep their mouths shut or else they could be prosecuted with life-destroying felonies as well.

This chilling effect is exactly what the First Amendment protects against, as the U.S. and Ohio Supreme Courts have repeatedly recognized.

We’re hopeful that the judge, upon review of this precedent that was not presented to her by Ford’s previous counsel at trial, will ultimately uphold the First Amendment and reverse Ford’s conviction. For a copy of the motion for acquittal that we filed yesterday click here and stay tuned to this page for further updates.