Thread by @ASFleischman

Nydia Tisdale is a journalist who was arrested for filming a Republican political rally. This week, the Supreme Court of Georgia denied her petition for certiorari. I want to briefly discuss the issues in the case. /1

ajc.com/news/breaking-…

An officer, Tony Wooten, asked her to stop filming. But because she had gotten permission from the owner of the property beforehand, she shushed him.

He grabbed her, dragged her to a barn, and arrested her. /2

Tisdale was charged with felony obstruction of the officer, because he claimed she kicked and hit him while he was dragging her, criminal trespass, and misdemeanor obstruction for hindering him in his duties.

She was acquitted of everything but misdemeanor obstruction. /3

The big issue in the appeal was this: Did the trial court err when it told the jury that it didn't matter whether Nydia was actually trespassing when she was told to stop filming, and it only mattered whether the officer BELIEVED she was trespassing? /4

The jury was instructed, essentially, that if she knew Tony Wooten was an officer, she was obligated to stop filming even if she was not, in fact, trespassing. So long as he had probable cause that she was doing so. /5

The Court of Appeals approved of this instruction, and that's going to have bad second order effects for journalists throughout the state.

It means that it's a crime for a journalist who is not trespassing to film if an officer tells her not to, so long as that officer has PC./6

I think that's a bad precedent, and if the courts won't fix it, I hope the Georgia legislature does. There should be an exception to the obstruction statute, baked in, that heightens the burden for requests not to film or record.

/f

Now that, unfortunately, the case has been affirmed on appeal, Dawson County is now obligated to respond to open records requests. If any of you have any interest in helping @NydiaTisdale as she pursues some footage that went missing from her arrest, it could be a big help.