I’m sorry, I thought this was America.
An Ohio blogger has been convicted of harassment after sending a picture of Shrek’s penis to a state senator.
D.J. Byrnes, who runs a blog called “The Rooster,” has racked up over a hundred thousand followers on social media and 15,000 subscribers on his Substack. And after Byrnes claimed that his efforts led to Ohio state senator Jerry Cirino losing his bid to become Senate president, apparently he decided to taunt the lawmaker by…sending him a meme of Shrek’s genetalia.
According to screenshots of the text shown in court, Byrnes sent the image along with a message calling Cirino “Young Mussolini.”
“Good to see you finally made your final humiliation public, Young Mussolini! The PATRIOTS CAUCUS sends its regards.”
Well apparently the lawmaker wasn’t amused and called the local police chief directly to demand that Byrnes be charged for the messages. The blogger was ultimately charged with telecommunications harassment, a first degree misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
But controversy arose when records showed the senator calling the judge who signed the warrant for Byrnes’ arrest “a good friend” and donating to her political campaign. A different judge ultimately presided over the trial.
In court, Byrnes and his attorney argued that he was simply exercising his First Amendment rights:
“What’s important in this case is that DJ was engaging in a political speech to a politician.”
And he pointed out that the senator had previously given out his personal cell phone number to the public, while also using his personal phone to conduct official business.
But the lawmaker says that the image was “pornographic” and “offensive,” and because it was to his personal cell phone, crossed the line between political speech and harassment:
“This wasn’t a free speech issue; this was a harassment statute that I believed he was in violation of. …
There is a line to be drawn between normalized interaction on issues and policy and votes and etc, that allow for agreement and disagreement and lots of debate on a professional basis… There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed.”
Ultimately a jury found Byrnes guilty of one count of telecommunications harassment, and a judge fined him $200 while also warning him against further harassment of Cirino.
Obviously the case got a lot of attention, not only because of the absolutely ridiculous allegations but also for the free speech implications. And after the verdict, Cirino said that while Byrnes is free to criticize him on his blog, his position makes him susceptible to further harassment:
“There are opportunities around the state house for continued harassment to occur. Obviously, he’s free to write on his blog whatever he wants. I just don’t want to be accosted in the Statehouse in the future.”
It’s not clear whether Byrnes intends to appeal his conviction, or whether he’ll simply pay the fine and refrain from sending politicians pictures of naked cartoon characters in the future. But it’s an important lesson: If you want to send a politician a picture of Shrek’s penis, don’t do it to their private cell phone.
