A judge on Wednesday threw out a criminal charge against an Arizona mother who was arrested at a city council meeting for criticizing a public official, calling her arrest "objectively outrageous."
Maricopa County Judge Gerald Williams dismissed with prejudice the trespassing charge against Rebekah Massie. On August 20, the mayor of Surprise, Arizona, ordered a police officer to arrest Massie during the public comment section of a city council meeting after Massie criticized a proposed pay raise for the city attorney. The mayor claimed she was violating a rule prohibiting complaints against city officials during public comment, and when she refused to stop speaking, he had her forcibly removed and arrested.
"No branch of any federal, state, or local government in this country should ever attempt to control the content of political speech," Williams wrote in his dismissal order. "In this case, the government did so in a manner that was objectively outrageous."
Following her arrest, Massie promptly filed a First Amendment lawsuit, with representation from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), arguing the city council's speech policies were unconstitutional and that city officials illegally retaliated against her, violating her First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment rights.
However, the threat of criminal prosecution hung over her head.
"For more than two months I've been living with the threat of punishment and jail time—being taken away from my kids, even—for doing nothing more than criticizing the government," Massie said in a FIRE press release. "Free speech still matters in America, and I can't tell you what a relief it is to have people on my side standing up for our rights with me."
Massie is a community activist and founder of a nonprofit, The Grand Failure, where she advocates for increased transparency and infrastructure improvements in the city. She was represented in her criminal case by Bret Royle, attorney at Feldman Royle.
"Rebekah should never have been detained, let alone criminally charged, for speaking her mind," Royle said in the press release. "That's the kind of thing that happens in tyrannical countries but should never happen here. No American should face jail time for exercising their freedom of speech, and we're relieved the court agreed."
The Supreme Court has ruled that criticizing public officials, even using rude or vulgar language, is core First Amendment–protected speech. In public forums—such as when a city council invites public comment—governments can craft reasonable restrictions on the time and manner of speech, but they can't discriminate against certain viewpoints.
Nevertheless, similar cases of small-town tyrants keep popping up.
Last year, for example, an Iowa man filed a First Amendment lawsuit after he was arrested twice for criticizing his town's police department during the public comment periods of city council hearings. The city council had a policy similar to Surprise's forbidding "derogatory statements or comments about any individual."
In 2022, FIRE also sued on behalf of residents of Eastpointe, Michigan, who were shouted down and prevented from speaking by the town's mayor during a public meeting. The town apologized and rescinded its policy limiting comments "directed at" elected officials.
The judge's decision to dismiss the charge against Massie with prejudice means prosecutors cannot ever refile it. State prosecutors argued unsuccessfully that Williams should not watch the video of Massie's arrest, which shows her repeatedly and correctly asserting that the city's policy is unconstitutional.
"The Defendant should not have faced criminal prosecution once for expressing her political views," Williams wrote. "The Court agrees that she should never face criminal prosecution, for expressing her political views on that date at that time, again."
Conor Fitzpatrick, a FIRE attorney, said in a press release that Massie's lawsuit against Surprise will continue: "We want to make it crystal clear to governments across the United States that brazenly censoring people and betraying the First Amendment comes with a cost."
The City of Surprise did not immediately return a request for comment.
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