A North Carolina appeals court on Wednesday rejected a woman's First Amendment challenge to a judge's order barring her from publicly sharing body camera footage of a state trooper killing her two dogs.
After a North Carolina State Highway Patrol officer fatally shot two of her dogs in October 2024, Lydia Nikac, a professional dog trainer, got a court order to obtain body camera video recording of the incident, but the trial judge restricted Nikac from sharing the footage publicly. A three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that judge did not abuse his discretion under North Carolina's statutes, which make body camera footage nonpublic by default.
